My Heart(ache) And Yours (A Klaus Mikaelson Love Story)
by xXRockerChicXx
Summary: A story I originally posted on Quibblo
1. The Same Old Things

Even looking out

my window, I could tell there was so much wrong with Mystic Falls. I'd lived here all my life, even became a police officer here, but that exposed me to all the _things_ that lived here. Vampires, Werewolves, Witches...I'd had it after that. I'd quit the force and moved to Richmond, but I'd only been there about 6 months before I was forced to return.

And I could see that everything that was wrong before was still wrong now. The same people still walked the streets, and that meant the same things would be wrong.

I groaned.

My new apartment was a one-bedroom on the second floor that I got at a really good price. The realtor had admitted that the last owner died under suspicious circumstances, but I didn't care; it was the best I could do with the money I had on hand. So I'd paid the deposit and three months rent in advance and moved my stuff in all in the same day. I admittedly didn't have that much stuff either, and the old owners furniture had been left there.

I left the apartment then, checking to make sure my silvery hair wasn't messed up in the mirror beside the door.

Outside on the street, people went about their business on the sidewalk and in their cars, and I detested the fact that I'd sold my old car back in Richmond. Luckily, everything was pretty close to my apartment, including what seemed like the only restaurant in town, The Mystic Grill. I scoffed at the name as I walked inside.

The inside was just as dim as I remembered. Wow; nothing really had changed.

I sat up at the bar and asked for a whiskey on ice and the bartender gave it to me. I chuckled a bit; they still didn't check ID here either, just like before. At least that remained the same.

My phone buzzed as I sipped at the glass, and I saw it was a call from the police station one person that could be.

"This is Dani, who am I talking to?"

"Dani? Hello." It was Elizabeth, or better known as Sheriff Forbes. "I heard from someone that you're moving back into town. Is this true?"

"Actually, I'm already here. I moved my stuff in just yesterday...I'm surprised the news got to you that fast."

"Well, you did work with me before you moved...Which is why I called. I wanted to know if you were interested in joining again. We've had some officers...leave recently, and really need the help."

I held me phone away from my mouth as I cackled. "You're not serious, are you? Don't you remember how last time ended?" I very clearly remembered throwing my badge and almost hitting her in the face after I was almost attacked by one of...them.

"Yes, I remember...But there are so much more of them than before you moved, and we really need help. Please Dani."

"I can't do it...I'm sorry."

The Sheriff thanked me anyway and I hung up and sighed; knowing there were more vampires here than before...I wondered why I even moved back.

"Oh yeah, because my cousin went and moved in with her boyfriend and I couldn't afford the rent of my own...Nice one Dani." I toasted myself miserably and downed the glass.

"You know, it's not healthy to talk to yourself. People might think you're weird." I looked beside me at a blonde-haired boy picking up a plate someone had left on the bar.

"Well, I am weird, there's no use denying that." He looked vaguely familiar, so I asked "This might sound weird, but I think I know you...What's your name?"

"Matt...Donovan. Used to be in the paper a lot, back when I was still on the football team." The name struck a chord, and I remembered him. He'd been on the football team when I still went to Mystic Falls High School, and I'd seen him in the local paper a few times since.

"Yeah, I know you now...I'm Dani Taylor, I used to be a cop here." He raised an eyebrow. "I did it right outta high school, but moved to Richmond 6 months ago...Now I'm back."

"You look a little young to have done all that..." I chuckled.

"Hey, 20 isn't that young...Not that old either!" He laughed. "So, are things really as boring now as they were before I moved?"

Matt shook his head. "Things actually get pretty crazy around here most of the time...Just wait a little while and you'll see." He picked up another plate and went back into the kitchen, and I grinned a bit.

At least I wouldn't be completely bored here.

The bartender came over and refilled my glass and I threw down a few dollars for him, deciding I'd walk through town and look for a job, just so I didn't have to do it later.

After I finished my drink. I smirked to myself, then remembering what Matt had said about talking to myself, chuckled.

"You're in a taken seat." I looked up from my glass to see another familiar face, one I recognized right away.

Damon Salvatore stood there with a sour expression on his face, but I didn't move. "And what do you want, vampire?" The sourness turned to shock and I laughed again.

He sat to my left and growled out "And how do you know what I am?"

"I'm not an idiot like the rest of these townspeople...Plus I used to be a cop here." He scoffed. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Used to? How old are you, 17?"

"You're off by three years, genius. Now I'll ask again, what do you want?"

"For you to get out of my buddy's seat, that's what." I turned to look at Damon, then around at the rest of the place.

"I don't see anyone else here. Who was your buddy? Another dirty vampire?" Damon growled under his breath and I just smirked. Vampires always lost their temper so easily.

"You're a new face so I'll let you off with a warning: stay the hell outta my way or you'll end up dead just like Ric." He got up and left then, and I stared after him.

Barely 15 minutes in here and I was already receiving death threats from a vampire? That had to be a new record, even for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You don't look like you're from here..." The shop owner I was facing looked me up and down. I had the urge to hit him, but I knew that was just because I'd run into that _vampire_ earlier.

"That's because I've lived in Richmond the last 6 months, but I lived here all before that..." He didn't look like he believed me, and I sighed heavily. "Nevermind...I'll get a job elsewhere." I stalked out of the tiny grocery store, which was somehow the second biggest in town, and down the street.

He wouldn't hire me because I looked like an out-of-towner? Ridiculous!

A street light blinked on above me and I looked up at the sky, which was fast growing dark. Several clouds also threatened in the distance, and would probably end up bringing rain later in the night.

It was near dark inside as well when I got to my apartment, and I saw that the light above my door was burnt out. I just had bad luck today, didn't I?

I pushed my door open and slammed it shut behind me, and went for the bathroom. I'd have a nice, long, hot shower to calm me down after this hectic day...

I stopped just short of the bathroom, reaching for the gun tucked into the back of my pants. I distinctly remembered locking the door before I'd left earlier that afternoon, and it'd been unlocked when I just came in.

I turned and the wind was knocked from me and I was slammed against the wall, and my gun dropped from between my fingers and fell to the floor.

As the spinning in my head slowly stopped, I opened my eyes and was met with a pair of light blue ones.

"Didn't I tell you to leave me alone in the bar, vampire?" Damon grimaced.

"What are you doing in here?" I didn't respond and he growled. "Why are you here?!"

"Damon...I think you've scared the girl quite enough. How about we get what we came here for and get out, hm?" Damon let my neck go, not without a glare and a snarl, and I saw who had spoken.

He was tall, with brownish-blonde hair and turquoise eyes. I stared at him, stunned for several moments until I realized he was working with Damon. Damn.

"Well, well, well...What could a lovely little thing like you be doing here?" His voice had a certain lull to it, and I knew he had to've been from somewhere in Europe. Interesting...

"I live here...I just moved in. Why're you here with that _vampire?_ Are you one too?" He chuckled and stepped closer to me.

"Not exactly. I'm surprised a little thing like you would know about us...but now know about me. I'm offended."

Damon scoffed. "Don't waste your time with her...I didn't want to come here, so let's get this over with and leave."

"Why so serious Damon? I'm just having a bit of fun. I'm sure you know **all** about that." Damon muttered something I couldn't hear and the other guy laughed. I just looked back and forth between them, confused.

"Why are you two here?"

"We're just here to pick up a few things the previous owner...left behind. Sorry Damon's a bit sour, apparently he and Alaric were 'friends.'" I wondered if this was the same 'friend' that he yelled at me for sitting in his seat at the Grill. "Now, about my question...How would a girl like you know about us?"

The stranger stared into my eyes as he asked this, and I knew he was trying to compel me. No vampire had tried it since the last time I was in Mystic Falls, but I recognized his demeanor instantly.

"You can't compel me." He frowned deeply. "Who _are_ you? I thought I knew all the vampires in this god-forsaken city." He chuckled.

"I'm not a vampire love, I'm a hybrid. And my name is Klaus. Klaus Mikaelson." He took my hand in his and raised it to his mouth and kissed it, and when he looked up into my eyes, his were yellow and black like a werewolf.

I gasped and backed up against the wall and Klaus chuckled again. "I think that's the best reaction I've had in quite a while...Damon, are we done here?"

"Yes." Damon came out of the bedroom with a bag in his hands and walked right out the front door.

Klaus looked at me and said "Well, sorry our meet had to be so short. We'll do this again sometime, hm?"

"Don't count on it." He only gave me a smile as he walked out my door, and I slid slowly to the floor.

How could I be so stupid? This was a town full of vampires; I should've set up some kind of protection in here before I even thought of going out...

I decided against sitting on the floor pitying myself, and instead went for one of my bags that sat in the bedroom. I saw the closet doors open and a wall panel removed, and knew that was where Damon must've been digging.

I went over and looked in the wall compartment, and found several weapons that Damon apparently hadn't grabbed. Stakes, little vials of what was probably vervain, and some other weapons I didn't recognize. Were these all left by the previous owner?

If this Alaric was friends with Damon, then why would he have this vampire hunting equipment? This was so confusing. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Elizabeth Forbes' number, knowing she would give me the information I needed. Even if I didn't exactly like her, I knew she would know at least some of what I needed.

I wasn't gonna come back to this town without getting updated on stuff...

I mean, where in the did a _hybrid_ even come from?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She couldn't possibly be serious...I _can't_ be thinking of actually doing this!" Elizabeth had given me some info, none of it I liked.

There were the Original vampires in town, which I knew was bad even before she described what they were. One of them, the Klaus that had helped Damon break into my apartment, was a half-vampire half-werewolf mix, and had turned Tyler Lockwood into a hybrid too, along with some other werewolves.

That was about as much as she knew, and she'd given me an address to go to if I wanted to find out more. Now that I was standing on a road through the woods staring at a big, unfamiliar house, I was unsure if I really wanted to do this.

"Well, I'm already out here..." I began walking up to the place when I was whirled across the driveway and found myself pinned to a tree. "Dammit!"

A voice in the darkness said "Did I hurt you? I'm sorry, love. But we must be cautious." The European lilt alerted me that it was Klaus.

"Klaus?" He chuckled and the hands around my wrists disappeared. My eyes took several seconds to adjust to the extra darkness beneath the trees, and I could make Klaus out grinning before me. "The next time one of you idiotic vampires pins me to a wall, I'm going to shoot you in the face."

"And destroy my handsome features? I'm hurt." I grumbled.

"It's not like you wouldn't heal instantly, being a hybrid and all...I got sent here to find out some information. This your house?"

I jerked my thumb towards the mini-mansion in the clearing and he barked a laugh.

"Goodness, no. I would never be caught living in a dump like this. Those idiotic Salvatores live there...You remember Damon?" I cursed under my breath. "There's been a lot going on lately, and I just thought I'd keep an eye on the new girl in town...You never know _what's_ going to show up these days."

I glared. "Don't follow me. Original or not, I'll still find some way to kill you." He grinned wider. "I hate you."

"Oh, I get that a lot. Come, let's go see how Damon likes seeing you again." We began walking and Klaus put his arm around my shoulders. I attempted to pull out of his grip, but his fingers dug into my shoulder and I groaned loudly. "I'm keeping an eye on you, remember?"

We got up to the house and the front door opened, and Stefan Salvatore stood in the doorway. He was Damon's little brother, and was also a vampire, but I was alright with him. At least he hadn't tried to kill half the town the last time I was here.

"Klaus...Who's this?"

"Just a little friend I picked up along the way. She wanted to talk to you and Damon, and I just couldn't help but bring her here. Is your older brother here?"

"I'll get him...Make yourself at home." Stefan's voice was hard, and I could tell he didn't want to let Klaus in. With what I gathered from Elizabeth, I guessed he didn't have a choice, because Klaus could just walk in anyway.

We entered the parlor and sat on a long leather couch that faced an ornate fireplace, and I looked around in interest. For a vampires' home, it didn't look that bad.

"Why're you two here?" I turned to see Damon waltz into the room in a pair of jeans and an unbuttoned shirt, open to reveal his chest. I grumbled.

"Dani here wanted to talk to you about something...I haven't the faintest idea what."

"Then why did you come?"

Klaus tightened his grip on me and I held back a moan. "I just thought you two might need a...mediator. A vampire and a hunter shut together in the same room like this...It's a recipe for disaster." Damon glared and I grimaced; Klaus was starting to draw blood from my arm.

"Why should I tell anything to you?"

In a rough voice, I forced out "Because you can't afford to have another wild card when your situation is already so bad." Damon didn't speak. "I just want to know what's happened here since I left six months ago."

"We'll, you'll have to get that information from somewhere else. I'm not gonna help you, whether _he's_ sitting beside you or not." Damon stood up and left the room and I sighed.

"Well, that was rather...uneventful. Wouldn't you agree, Dani?" I didn't say anything and he chuckled. "Oh, I'm hurting you? How could I forget?"

Klaus removed his fingers from my shoulder and I let out a moan, gripping my pained shoulder with my left hand. When I pulled my hand back, it was covered with blood, and I scowled at Klaus.

"I couldn't help it, love. I'm part vampire, remember?"

"Please refrain from doing that again..."

"Or what? You'll shoot me? Your gun is still laying on the floor of your apartment, and you don't have a weapon on you."

"How would you know?" Klaus just looked me up and down and I covered myself with my hands, a high-pitched gasp escaping my lips. My hand came out and across his face, leaving a bloody handprint across his left cheek. "How dare you feel me up like that!"

There was a low growl and Klaus eyes turned to the yellow and black of werewolf eyes and he gripped me tightly with both hands.

"You, a petty little human...would hit me?" His fangs extended from his jaw and I had the urge to cry out, but I kept by jaw tightly shut. I wouldn't show fear, even to him. "That was a _really_ bad decision."

I stared defiantly back into his eyes as I spat out "Says you."

He growled and my eyes snapped shut as I thought he would bite me, but nothing happened.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Klaus staring oddly at me, his eyes now returned to their usual turquoise color. I couldn't back out of his grip, so I cautiously asked "What are you staring at..?"

"What are you?" I started. What was he talking about. "Are you some kind of vampire as well? Well?!"

"No! I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Klaus stood and lifted me up off the ground, speeding up the stairs and into the bathroom.

He almost threw me in front of the full-length mirror and said "You heal like one of us!" I looked at my right shoulder where his fingers had dug into it. Blood dripped down my arm, but the tiny incisions that had been there only minutes ago were now gone.

I stared, unable to comprehend what I was looking at.

The door to the bathroom burst open and Stefan and Damon stood there, looking around wildly. When they saw my arm dripping with blood, Stefan grabbed me and pulled me out of the bathroom, pulling me into someone's bedroom.

"Stefan..? Who's that?" I looked at a girl getting up from the bed. She had brown hair and eyes, and when she saw my blood, her eyes darkened. She was a vampire.

"Elena! Go downstairs, you don't need to see this!" She stared at us for a moment before disappearing from the room. Stefan sat me on the bed and looked me in the eyes before checking my arm for wounds. "Where are you cut?"

"I...don't know..."

"What..?" Klaus came through the bathroom doorway and Stefan stood up to face him. "What did you do?!"

"I tried to feed on Damon's little friend there, but she isn't human. Her wound healed as if she was a vampire."

Stefan turned to face me again, but I shook my head. "No! I'm not a vampire, I swear!"

"Are you a werewolf? There's no way you could heal like that if you were just a human."

"I'm not a werewolf either! Go down to the town hall and look up my family! I swear to you, I am not lying!" Stefan and Klaus stared at each other, and I buried my head in my hands.

I should've never come back from Richmond.


	2. A New Dilemma

"We're gonna have someone keeping an eye on you until we can...figure this situation out. Are you sure you'll be alright staying here by yourself?"

"Of course I will, I'm not completely helpless...How are you supposed to find out about this if I didn't even know about it?" Stefan sighed and sat beside me. We were in my bedroom sitting on my bed, and his brother Damon was out in the front room.

"Well, we'll check your family first, to see if there's been any werewolves in your family that you don't know about. If we don't find anything there, we have a witch friend we can talk to that might be able to help...If you're willing to talk to her, of course." I nodded.

"I don't have anything against witches...But since I was a cop here for awhile back when Damon first came to town, I won't say I have the same attitude about you vampires." There was a grumble from the other room and I couldn't help but grin. "Who're you going to have watch me?"

"Well, we'll probably pass by to make sure you're alright, or if you have a job here in town we can come in there..."

"I don't have a job...Nobody wants to hire me because I look like an out-of-towner. Guess that's what I get for leaving for so long." Stefan chuckled.

"Well, if you really can't find anything, I could...help. Only with your permission, of course." I eyeballed him.

"Getting help from a vampire...I never thought it'd happen. But, if you're in the mood to help me, can you make sure your older brother doesn't keep knocking on my door? It's enough that I have to worry about all the other vampires too."

Damon grumbled in the other room.

"I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, keep everything locked up, and if you have vervain, use it. We don't need you getting attacked before we have the chance to sort this out."

"I'll keep that in mind." He got up and left with his brother, and I fell back on the bed with a groan.

I was in town for a day and I was already in league with the vampires; and here I thought I was different than the rest of the people here.

I looked up at the closet, which I had yet to fix, and at the weapons in the hidden panel. I got up and knelt in the small closet and looked through the bag again.

There were a few clips of wooden bullets and vials of vervain, both with little flowers and in liquid form. I took both and switched the wooden bullets out with the ones in my gun, and slipped the vials into my pocket. I doubted I'd need them, but in this town, I wasn't going to take any chances.

I decided to look around the apartment some more, particularly in the

kitchen. As I expected, there was no food or drinks, but in the bottom of one of the cabinets I found a bottle of Bourbon and laughed.

I didn't even need to go to the bar, and I could've avoided meeting Damon or Klaus.

"Well played Alaric...Too bad I didn't know you while you were alive." I took the bottle with me back into the bedroom and plopped back down on the mattress. "Now all we need is a TV and basic cable, and this apartment should be perfectly habitable. What d'you say?"

There was a slight breeze and I heard the whisper of a man, and I froze immediately.

_"Shît._ I did not just hear that..." It sounded again and I almost shrieked. "What the heII..? I am **not** hearing a ghost right now." One more whispering breeze sounded and I jumped up. "That's it, I'm leaving."

I slipped my gun into the back of my pants and grabbed my jacket and left immediately. It was extremely bright outside so I slipped on my sunglasses, then checked my phone.

8:30am?! I groaned; I didn't like to be up this early. Stefan must've come to see me right before he had to go to school...And that meant anyone else I would've liked to talk to was probably at the school too.

I groaned and turned towards the high school. Maybe I could go visit some of my old teachers or something...

"I sound like such a dweeb...And look like one, since I don't even have a car to drive around in..." I realized I was talking out loud again and cursed. I had to stop doing that...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With a huff and a groan, I pushed open the doors of Mystic Falls High and made my way to the office. The secretary was the same one that'd been there when I was there, and she seemed to recognize me.

"Officer Dani Taylor? Well, we haven't seen you here in quite some time." I smiled nervously.

"Well, I'm not an officer of the peace anymore...just trying to enjoy that peace for myself right now. I was wondering if I could get in to visit some old teachers?"

"Of course!" She pulled a visitors pass out from a drawer and scribbled my name on it, and handed it to me. "Just bring that back when you leave, alright?"

"Okay." I left the office and slipped the pass in my pocket, and made my way through the school. It was almost 9:00, so classes would be letting out any second.

As I walked down the Social Studies wing, the bell rang and the hall began to flood with students, and I nearly pressed myself against the lockers to avoid the rush. I slipped into what I thought was an empty classroom, but saw a familiar face at one of the desks in the back.

"Stefan?" He looked up and his eyes went wide with surprise.

"Dani?" I went and sat at the desk beside him. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't really know what to do with myself today, so I just figured I'd come here."

"Did you walk?" I nodded and he scoffed. "You know, it's 3 miles from your apartment to here."

"I jogged. I just didn't feel right being in the apartment by myself, with what you told me and..." I wondered if I should tell him about the noises I heard. "And I think there was a ghost there."

I thought Stefan would laugh, but he didn't. Instead, his green eyes became intense. "Since Alaric just died a while ago, that might've been his ghost you were hearing. I'd say it's very rare for someone to be able to see or hear ghosts, but your situation...All I can say is don't tell Damon about this."

"Why? Because he was friends with Alaric?"

"Yeah...Damon has been really messed up since Ric died, even more than usual, so something like this might...stir him up. Did you lock everything up before you left?" I nodded.

"I also brought some vervain with me, and I loaded my gun with some wooden bullets I found. So if your brother or that Klaus tries anything again, I'll be ready." Stefan smiled crookedly. "Isn't there supposed to be a class in here?"

"They're coming. Elena and Bonnie will be in here too. Bonnie is the witch I mentioned that might be able to help you..." I nodded as other students started to come in.

"Since Alaric is gone, who's the new teacher?"

"Don't know."

I moved to a seat at the teacher's desk, and some of the students coming in stared at me. When Elena came in, she stopped and came over to me and whispered "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Stefan is trying to get me some help to find out what I am...and I have some weapons with me in case Klaus tries to be funny again."

"That's good to hear." She went and sat in the seat I had just vacated, and the teacher followed in after. I stared blankly at the man; I didn't recognize him, but I had a vague knowledge that I knew him from somewhere.

"Class, you may call me Mr. Mikaelson...I'm here to replace the recently departed Mr. Saltzman. Would one of you students like to take attendance for me whilst I learn everyone's names?" He turned to look at me and I knew instantly who he was.

Or, at least, who he was related to. He had to be Klaus' brother or something, because they had the same last name, and they looked vaguely alike. This one was tall with short brown hair and eyes, and he looked more sophisticated than Klaus did.

I looked over at Stefan and Elena, and by the absolutely shocked looks on their faces, I knew I was right in my assumption.

The man came and sat in the teachers chair beside me and said "You must be Dani Taylor...News has spread quite fast about you. I'm surprised to see the news of your appearance wasn't a lie." I sneered as I ran a hand through my silver hair. "I am Elijah."

The name struck a chord with some of the things Stefan had told me.

"You're Klaus' brother, right?" He nodded. "You looked a bit familiar...I thought you'd left town?"

"I've come back because of some recent...discrepancies. It seems I couldn't have chose a better time to return." I raised an eyebrow. "I am interested in any species that has ties with us vampires, and you being immune to compulsion makes me believe you have a history with us."

"How do you know I wasn't on vervain?"

"Because Niklaus would not have been able to taste your blood if that were true." I frowned; I didn't think he'd have gotten all the details so soon. "If you are no danger to us, then I shall leave you in peace. But if what you are becomes a danger to vampires, you will be dealt with. Immediately."

"I have no issues with that...But let me tell you that if you become a problem with me, _I'll_ be the one dealing with _you."_

Elijah nodded and turned from me to face the class again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walked into the school cafeteria and saw Stefan and Elena at a table with some others, but having been stuck in several classes while they eyed each other disapprovingly, I wanted to go outside.

Several students were eating outside despite the breeze that blew, and it reminded me of the whispering ghost voice in my apartment this morning. I shivered, not from the cold, and made my way across the school lawn.

"Hey!" I stopped and looked to see Matt and an unfamiliar face coming up to me. "Dani, right?"

"Yup. Matt and..."

The other kid spoke up. "Jeremy. I think you met my sister Elena earlier..." I nodded.

"What're you two doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside eating or going to class?" They both shrugged. "I just came to see everyone this morning, but I'm probably gonna go into town to grab lunch. Wanna come?"

"Sure."

"Good...because I need a ride." They laughed and we headed towards the parking lot. As we reached a dark truck and I got in between Matt and Jeremy, I asked "Jeremy, d'you mind if I ask a weird question?"

"Uh...go ahead."

"You're a vampire hunter, right?" He looked at me oddly. "Stefan told me. Anyways...do you get any kind of weird vampire...thing near me?"

"Not that I can tell...Why?"

"Didn't your sister tell you?" He shook his head. "Well...yesterday I went to the Salvatore house and Klaus was there and he injured me, but the wound healed almost instantly...But I'm not a vampire or a werewolf, so I don't know what's going on!"

"Well...there's so many things running around here now, anything is a possibility. You really don't know why you healed?" I shook my head.

Matt said "Do you have any way of finding out?"

"Stefan said he would ask Bonnie for help...She's another one of your friends, right?" They both nodded. "Oh! Go right here."

Matt pulled up in front of a pizza place and we all got out.

"Sorry, I just don't wanna have to eat Grill food right now..."

"Well, we both work there, so we can't argue." We went in to the nearly-empty shop and the two guys sat down.

"What d'you want?"

Jeremy said "A medium pepperoni and extra cheese pizza." Matt said "The same, but with sausage and ham."

"Can you two possibly eat any more?" They laughed as I went up to the counter and ordered the pizza, and some waffle fries on the side for me. As I waited for the food I went back to the bathroom to wash my hands.

I discovered there wasn't any soap and grumbled, and turned to leave bout found my way blocked. The door of the bathroom was stuck, and I shoved it hard, but it just rattled and stayed stuck.

"Dammit!"

I raised my foot to kick it when I heard a low chuckle and spun. "Why so angry, love? Now we finally have some alone time."

"Klaus?!" I nearly screamed, but he sped to me and clamped his hand over my mouth. I bit harshly into his palm, hard enough to draw blood, but he just chuckled.

"You've got a fierce bite for a near-human. But now you've tasted my blood and I can just snap your neck and turn into a vampire." I froze. "That's a good girl."

He released me and I spat out "What are you _doing_ here?!"

"Why, I'm here to see you of course. I was informed by someone...reliable that you'd come here. You were warned that you would be watched."

"Yes, but I didn't think you'd compel the manager to call you if I walked in the door. Did you do that to every other shop owner in town as well?"

"Perhaps I did. You can't seriously expect one of us to be watching you every second of the day, now can you?"

"I never asked for you to watch me!" He advanced and I stepped back against the door. "If you people would just leave me in peace, then you wouldn't have to worry about compelling everyone in town to keep track of me..."

"Until we find out the precious secret of your blood, we do in fact have to keep tabs on you."

"You don't have to compel people to do it!" Klaus' face darkened. "Don't you look at me like that..."

His hands appeared on either side of my head and I yelped, but he clamped his hand over my mouth again. His eyes turned werewolf yellow and his fangs protruded from his mouth, and me took one of my wrists and held it to his face.

"I only got a small hint of what your blood is like...Let's see how it fares when I have a full taste of it." He sunk his teeth into my wrist and I tried to scream, but he clamped my mouth shut again with his super strong grip.

I pushed hard against him, summoning all my strength, but he barely moved a few inches before the blood loss started to make me dizzy and weak. I slumped against Klaus and he finally released me, my blood dripping from his mouth onto both our clothes.

"That...was simply _wonderful._ I think I'll definitely be keeping you close to me. I won't have anyone else drinking your blood."

There was a knock at the door and I heard Matt say "You in there Dani?"

"Yeah, I'm just...fixing my hair." I heard him laugh. "Go eat, I'll be right out."

I heard Matt shuffle away and Klaus chuckled. "That human is smitten with you, yet you turned him away. How interesting."

"If I opened the door, you would've killed him...I said I didn't want you to hurt anyone."

"Then I suggest you accompany me somewhere away from your little human and hunter friends. They'll come looking for you, but for now, I'd like you for myself. How 'bout it love?" I grimaced.

"Fine, just...don't hurt them."

Klaus hugged me to his warm body and said "You better hold on tight, or I might drop you on the way." I wrapped my arms around him tightly and felt the wind suddenly _whooshing_ around us, and we sped away from the pizza shop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked around the lavishly decorated room I was in, wondering where exactly Klaus had brought me. The room had a bed with silk covers, a couch with elaborately carved trim, and dressers and a closet that looked fit for royalty. The attached bathroom was just as grand, from what I could see from my place on the bed. Klaus had tied my arms and legs as soon as we'd gotten here, and I didn't even know how long ago it was.

The bedroom door opened and Klaus entered, almost giggling when I glared up at him.

"You look rather helpless in that position...I must thank whomever left those ropes in the cellar." He came and sat beside me, and I tried feebly to scoot away.

I ended up falling over on my stomach and I couldn't get back up, because my hands were tied behind my back. He just laughed some more.

"Klaus, you said I had to come here so you wouldn't hurt Matt and Jeremy, but you never said I had to be tied up."

"That is true...But this is purely for my own enjoyment. You displayed an amazing amount of strength in that bathroom, and I wanted to see if you'd be able to break these bonds. It seems not."

"Strength..? What are you talking about?"

He grabbed my wrists and I twisted violently, but he grip didn't loosen.

"I am a thousand year old hybrid and you managed to push me away in that bathroom, despite the fact that you're supposed to be human. Most vampires would not be able to do that, so it left me curious...That, and the _wondrous_ taste of your blood." I fought the urge to gag.

"Please stop talking about me like that...I'm not some special being and I'm not your personal blood bag."

"Not yet. But now that I have you locked in my bedroom, I think that will change quite quickly."

His bedroom?! I tried to roll myself again, but Klaus pulled me into his lap and jerked my head to the side. I inhaled a deep breath and prepared myself for his savage bite, but all I felt was the soft touch of his lips.

My eyes snapped open in shock and I shrieked "What are you doing?!"

"I've already fed on you once today; I wouldn't want you to pass out from blood loss. You have extraordinary healing, but it's better to be safe." Klaus reached between us and undid the rope around my hands, then sat us up so he could untie my feet as well. "There you go, all better."

I didn't comment on the fact that he still held me in his lap, with my head still jerked to the side. I was too afraid that he would hurt me again to say anything.

"You're much more docile than I would have thought you'd be. It does take away from the fun factor of keeping you prisoner."

"Maybe I've just realized that you might kill me if I try to escape."

"Yes, I'd have to say I probably would." Klaus pushed me off of his lap and stood. "You'll be confined to my bedroom until you earn the privilege to travel through the house. But, if you attempt to leave the house without my permission, there will be severe consequences."

"Like what?"

"Well, my blood is still in your system...I could always turn you into a vampire as punishment." I guess Klaus must've been able to read the fear on my face, because he laughed. Sarcastically, he said "I hope you enjoy your stay here."

"I hope you get staked." His face darkened and before I could let out a scream, he was on me digging his teeth into my neck.


	3. Taken Prisoner

I took Klaus' cell phone from the beside table and scrolled through his contacts until I found Stefan. I hit talk and heard it ring, but he didn't answer right away. When he did, he spat out "Klaus! What did you do with Dani?!"

"Stefan! I'm here, I'm using Klaus' phone..." He gasped. "Klaus is sleeping."

"Where are you?!"

"I don't know...I can't see anything but trees from the window, and he won't let me out of the bedroom."

"Bedroom..? Dani, what did he do to you?!"

I held the phone away from my ear. "Don't worry, he didn't do...that. He's asleep on the bed right now, so I took his phone...Please come find me! Klaus has been feeding on me, and he says I'm not allowed to leave the house, and that I'll have to stay here until he finds out what I am...He says he'll turn me into a vampire if I leave the house!"

"Don't worry Dani, we'll find you before that happens...Klaus has a house for him and his sister on the other side of town, that might be where he's taken you...Look, in the morning I'll call him here for something, and I'll have Damon go to the house to see if you're there. Think you can hang on that long?"

"I think so...Please make this work." I hung up and put the phone back, and looked over at Klaus.

I fell back on my butt when I saw his turquoise-blue eyes staring over at me, and skittered back several feet. We stared at each other for several moments until Klaus sat up, his light-brown hair in a mess, and reached for his phone.

"It's 3 in the morning, and you stole my phone to call Stefan...Not a good idea."

Klaus used his super speed to snatch me up and throw me down on the bed, and hold my hands above my head. His body weight was settled on mine, and I couldn't even try to struggle or roll away.

"When I said you were confined to this house and this room, that includes phone calls. I wonder what type of punishment I should give you for your infraction..."

"How about nothing?" I whipped my head to the side to see the bedroom door open, and a man standing in the doorway. It took me a moment to realize it was Elijah. "I haven't been gone very long, and you've already managed to take this woman prisoner. I'm beginning to think you won't survive long without me keeping a close watch on you."

"Would you mind, brother? I was just having a bit of fun with my _guest."_ Elijah kept his stern gaze directed at Klaus, who finally sighed and got off of me. I rolled myself off the bed and scurried across the room to Elijah, who looked me up and down. "Look at her, you won't find a single mark."

"I am not ignorant brother, I know she heals all physical wounds. Dani, has my brother done anything to you?"

In the nastiest, most sarcastic voice I could muster, I spat "No, he just took me prisoner and has been feeding on me til the point where I almost pass out."

"Niklaus..." Klaus chuckled.

"Come on brother, there's no need to get fussy. Dani heals as we do, so there is no danger in what I'm doing. Besides, until we find out what she is, I thought it best to keep her safe where no others could reach her."

"Safe would be as far as she could get from you. Dani." I looked up at Elijah's face. "I agree with my brother in saying that you should remain here..." My eyes widened. "But I will show you to a separate room. I will retrieve your weapons for you also, so you may protect yourself if I am not here."

"Thank you...At least _someone_ knows how to treat a woman." Klaus just laughed again and laid back on his bed, and I stomped out of the room.

After showing me to another elaborately decorated bedroom, Elijah said "This was to be my room, but as I have no intention of enjoying the human luxury of sleep, you may rest here."

"I want to return to my apartment tomorrow. The lease should've gone through, so it will prevent any vampire from entering, right? Even ones that were invited by Alaric?" He nodded. "Good..."

He left the room and shut the door, but barely a moment later I could hear him and Klaus arguing in the other bedroom. I went to the bed and laid down, praying that Klaus wouldn't come into the room while I was asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Stefan!" I went and hugged him and he chuckled, and we hurriedly got into his Porsche. We drove away from Klaus' home and I said "Did Elijah call you?"

"Right before Damon and I were about to burst in with stakes in hand, yes. Did Klaus or Elijah hurt you in any way?"

"Elijah didn't...He actually stopped Klaus from feeding on me some more." I didn't want to tell him about the other thing, about my fear of what Klaus was _about_ to do on his bed. I shuddered at the memory. "And he gave me my gun and stuff back from where Klaus hid them."

"Elijah helping you...He must want to know what you are as bad as the rest of us do." I shrugged. "Come on, I'll take you to my house so I can get you something to eat. Damon's not there right now, don't worry."

"Don't you have school today?"

"It's Saturday."

Oh. I felt really dumb.

"Can you call your witch friend Bonnie and tell her to meet us there? I just want to get this mess done and over with." He nodded.

It didn't take us long to get there, and as promised, Damon wasn't home. I noticed Elena wasn't there either.

We went in and to the

kitchen, and Stefan started preparing me some kind of dish I didn't recognize, and I heard a car approach out front.

I went to answer it and saw that it was Bonnie, Stefan's witch friend.

"You're Dani, right?" I nodded. "Would you mind talking out here?"

"Okay..." I stepped outside and shut the big door behind me. "Why?"

"I didn't tell Stefan this...but I don't know if I can help you find out what you are."

"What? Why?" She sighed heavily.

"I haven't been completely in control of my magic lately, and to be honest, I don't know if I could help anyway. About the best I could do would be to contact your parents or someone else in your family that's passed on, or try to contact some other dead witched for help..."

"My parents aren't dead...Did Stefan tell you that?" She nodded. "My dad has been living in Suffolk since I started college here at 17, and my mom...I never knew her, and he never told me anything about her. I don't know if she's dead, alive, vampire, werewolf, witch, ghost, or whatever the heII else is out there."

"I could try to contact her spirit, to at least find out if she's alive or not. If you want."

I shook my head. "I'd rather not. She hasn't ever been a part of my life before, so I'd rather she stay out of it. Sorry for making you come all this way for nothing."

"It's alright. Matt and Jeremy wanted me to come anyways, to make sure you were alright. I told them I was coming and they wouldn't stop bugging me." We both laughed. "See ya."

"Bye." I went back inside and closed the door and Stefan came out of the kitchen.

"That was Bonnie? Why didn't you let her in?"

"She said she couldn't help me." He looked bewildered. "None of my father's family knows anything, and I won't have anything to do with my mother, whether she's alive or dead. Thanks for spreading the rumor that my parents were dead, by the way."

"I'm sorry Dani...You never told me about them, so I had to tell her something. But why won't you try your mother?"

I scoffed. "You're rather deaf for a vampire. Like I told Bonnie, I never knew my mom or what she might've been, or even what her name is. My father refused to tell me anything about her. Even so, she never came back for me, so I'd rather not go looking for her." I sighed. "You know what, I'm not really hungry...I just want to get back to my apartment."

"I'll get my keys." I shook my head.

"I'll walk. I don't really want to be near anyone right now..."

"But it's three miles to your apartment. What if someone tries to attack you?" I shrugged.

"Normal vampire I can handle well enough on my own. If Klaus attacks...I'll pray he doesn't kill me while his blood is still in my system." I turned for the door, but paused and said "And don't follow me, or send anyone else to follow me."

I went out and hurried away from the big house, shielding my eyes from the bright morning sun. I knew it would be a long, exhausting walk, but I didn't want to be near any more vampires longer than I needed to. Either they wanted to drink from me like Klaus, or find out what I was and probably kill me like all the other vampires I'd met so far.

The long road through the woods made me feel uneasy, even now during the daytime. Probably because there were no cars and no other people on it, on a Saturday morning at that. In town, I knew people would be running around or out enjoying themselves, and I stepped up my pace.

After awhile, I didn't know exactly how long, I walked over the old wooden bridge that spanned the small river outside the edge of town, and a familiar wispy voice drifted to my ears.

"Really?! You have to start with the haunting when I'm out here in the middle of the woods like this?!" The wispy voice echoed again, and I cursed to myself. "Okay, I'm guessing this is Alaric trying dismally to contact me, and only succeeding in creeping me out? It might help if you talk in normal tones instead of whispering in my ear like some creepy stalker."

There was a chuckle and a clear voice said "I only sounded like that because you were ignoring me. If you want to hear me, I'll sound clear, like this."

"Oh, goodie..." I looked around but saw no signs of his ghostly form. "Can I see the person that's been whispering creepily into my ear for the last day and a half?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw the air beside me become disturbed, and the shape of a man slowly took shape. His form slowly darkened and solidified until I was face-to-face with the man whose picture Stefan had showed me the first time we talked.

He was about 6ft tall, with brown hair and blue eyes, and looked at me oddly.

"What?"

"You're the first person since I've died that's been able to see me, and I never even knew you when I was alive. It's just nice for someone to be able to hear me again."

"You haven't been dead that long. Imagine if you'd been gone for years."

"I'd probably go insane." I turned and started walking towards town again, and he floated right along beside me. "When you came to town and moved into my apartment, I talked to some people on this side to try to figure out who you were."

"You could've just followed your best friend Damon around, he's been snooping up on my family since I got back here."

"I did, but I mean about _what_ you were. I heard some things..." I stopped.

"Why didn't you just say that right away? I've been wondering about it ever since that idiot of an Original decided to take a chunk out of my arm."

"You can heal instantly and are stronger than a normal human. What does that sound like to you?"

"A vampire, but I don't get burned by the sun and I don't drink blood."

"You drank Klaus' blood. Made you feel stronger, didn't it?" I stared at Alaric's ghost crossly, trying to make out what he was saying. "You don't get burned by the sun because you're not a complete vampire."

"What?" I was dumbfounded. "The only time I've heard of a vampire not being burned is when they're in transition, but I would've died by now if that was true..."

"It's because you're only half-vampire." I stopped walking as I nearly ran into a small tree. I stared at Alaric until I the shining sun forced me to turn away and rub my eyes. "I know it's hard to believe..."

"Because it's impossible! Vampires can't reproduce! I know personally of a few vampires that enjoy frequent sleepovers with humans, but none of them have half-human babies!" Alaric shrugged."Don't shrug at me! Explain!"

"Let's keep walking. I don't know for sure, but someone is probably watching you." I started pacing down the road again. "You said your family was here before you moved, so it didn't take me long to find one of them. It was your aunt I think. She told me that her sister got turned into a vampire right before she went into labor with you, and that she had you while she was in transition. After you were born, your mom fed on her sister to complete the change...and I guess she left after that."

"It still doesn't make any sense...If she got turned while she was pregnant with me, I should've died. Even if she had me while she was in transition, I should've turned into a full vampire."

"I can't explain it, that's just what I was told. But it's the most plausible and probably the only explanation for how you are. Am I right?"

I begrudgingly nodded. I was thinking it was something to do with a vampire, but me being a half vampire? **/No way!/**

"Nobody is going to believe this without any proof. How am I even supposed to believe this without any proof?"

"Find your mom, I guess. She did deliver you at the hospital, so there'll be a record of her name and information. All you have to do is look for it."

My hurried pace slowed to an amble. I was barely processing any of this information, and I barely noticed the blue Camaro that slowed and pulled up beside me on the dusty road.

"Get in the car Dani." I looked inside and saw Damon, and got in without a word. With what Alaric's ghost had just told me, I wasn't in a mood to argue. Even with Damon. "Stefan called and said you walked out. Why would you do something so stupid like that? What if Klaus or another one of those Originals attacks you before we..."

"I already know what I am."

Damon was silent for a moment. "I knew you were holding something back from us."

"Someone just told me." He raised an eyebrow. "Your friend Alaric told me." He pressed on the brake and the car screeched to a halt.

"Ric couldn't have told you anything, he's dead..."

"It was his ghost. I saw him." Damon reached over with lightning speed and his hand closed around my neck. "Stop choking me..! I'm not lying!"

"He's been dead for weeks and he didn't even _know_ you when he was alive. How could he have told you what you are?!"

"I don't know, ask him!" I looked into the backseat and saw Alaric's ghost sitting there. "He's right in the backseat!"

"You're lying." I took as deep of a breath as I could get.

"I'll prove it!" I stared pleadingly at Alaric until he told me something, and my eyes widened at it. I definitely wouldn't have expected it to be true, but I repeated it to Damon anyway. "When Alaric was dying as a human, you and him shared a bottle of bourbon in a mausoleum at the cemetery, and you both cried."

Damon froze and slowly removed his hand from my neck.

"And you also visited his grave after he died and cried then too. He was sitting right beside you when that happened."

It was several moments before Damon let off the brakes and the car started to move again. "So maybe you aren't lying about seeing ghosts...I guess it's good you've already made friends with Jeremy Gilbert. That little twerp sees dead people too."

"Just...shut up and take me to my apartment. Please. I need time to be alone and...try to make sense of this...I honestly don't know what to do. He told me I was a half-vampire, but that's impossible, right?"

"Haven't seen an undead kid yet."

"Exactly! How can we even find out if it's right?"

"Do what normal vampires do." I looked at Damon questioningly. "You see if drinking vervain will weaken you, and you try to drink someone's blood."

I pulled back, horrified. "I can't drink someone's blood! That's...disgusting!"

"Look, do you want to find out for sure or not? If you don't think you can handle drinking a human's blood, then drink a vampire's. If my dead buddy is right, you'll probably get stronger after you do."

"Well, then you'd better find a vampire for me to drink from, because it sure as heII isn't gonna be you." Damon frowned. "You tried to kill me, so I'm not taking any chances."

"Whatever...Let's just find someone and get this over with."


	4. Half Breed

"Well, the little lovely has already had a taste of my blood, so why don't we just go for the whole thing?"

Two days shut in my apartment, and the second I come out on Monday night, I'm whisked back to the Salvatore house. The whole group was there, minus Matt and Bonnie, plus Elizabeth's daughter Caroline. She was a vampire too, of course.

Stefan glared at Klaus as he said "We don't need you involved in this any more. You tried to take Dani prisoner!"

He shrugged a shoulder. "I let her go."

Damon interjected with "Only after your big brother came to the rescue. It's a pity that he has to keep track of you."

Klaus stepped up to him. "Says the boy that lets his younger sibling dictate everything he does, including his choice of women." They growled at each other until Caroline stepped between them.

"Seriously? Stop arguing like a bunch of preschoolers. I'll get some blood." Caroline went towards the

kitchen and I stared at everyone.

Damon and Klaus still scowled at each other, Stefan and Elena stood watching the both of them, and Jeremy's eyes flitted back and forth between everyone. I could tell he was uneasy in a room full of this many vampires, because I was too.

Unable to take much more of it, I stood and went into the kitchen. Caroline was just filling an opaque glass with what I assume was blood, because afterwards she dropped an empty medical baggie into the garbage.

"Oh, hey, I didn't know you came back here."

"There's waaaay too much tension in there, I couldn't stand it." I took the cup from her and said "Are they always at odds like that?" She nodded.

"Pretty much. Everyone always has different ways they wanna handle stuff, so we're always arguing. Stuff usually still gets done though."

"Usually..." She raised an eyebrow. "Stefan told me it wasn't planned for Elena to become a vampire. Or for Klaus to even be alive right now."

"We made a few mistakes, but everyone does...Come on, drink it before they all come barging in here."

Caroline watched as I cautiously sniffed at the cup before raising it to my lips. I sipped at the dark red liquid, and it tasted much the same as Klaus' blood did when I bit his hand. I drank some more, a big gulp this time, and found I didn't hate the taste of it.

When I downed the entire cup, she said "Well?"

"It tasted...normal. Like water; not good or bad, I guess..."

"Probably because it's hospital blood. But I guess this means you really are half a vampire, because I know no human could down a cup of blood like that."

"Oh yippee..." I wasn't exactly joyed. "Wasn't Stefan supposed to have some vervain here too? They wanted to see if that would affect me too."

"Um...let me go check." Caroline disappeared and I leaned against the kitchen counter. It wasn't long before her empty spot was occupied though.

"So, you are a half vampire after all...How delightful."

"Go away Klaus."

He laughed. "Without you trying some of this vervain? You requested it." I stared until he produced a little bottle of the stuff, and I grabbed it out of his hands. "Don't look so eager love, it will probably weaken you."

"Why are you still talking?" The only reason I could get away with being so cocky was because there were other vampires in the house, and I knew he knew that. That was probably why he didn't stop grinning.

I opened the small bottle and, without thinking, downed the clear liquid that looked like normal water. It tasted funny, and burned a bit going down, almost like liquor. I was staring down at the bottle in my hands when my vision began to get blurry and my body weakened severely.

Klaus caught me as I began to fall and said "I was counting on you doing that."

"What..? Why..?"

"Like I said, I won't have anyone else bothering you until I'm done with you. Besides, I could use a half vampire like you on my side."

He hoisted me up into his arms and I heard someone call "Where's Dani?"

The door to the kitchen burst open and I only caught a glimpse of Caroline's face before Klaus whisked us away from the Salvatore house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I was jolted awake out of a deep sleep, the first thing I noticed was that my face was pressed into a soft pillow, and I was no longer wearing my jeans or T-shirt. I pushed myself up and saw I wore only a silk nightie, and that I was back in Klaus' bedroom again.

I jumped up and, after a quick search for my clothes with no results, I sped to the door.I opened it but when I tried to step out, I couldn't.

"What? What is this?!" There was a chuckle and I looked to the end of the hall.

A girl with blonde hair sauntered over to me.

"My brother told me he brought a guest home, and that she was a half-vampire. Pardon me, but you look superbly unimpressive for such a being."

"And who are you supposed to be, a reject Barbie model?" Her face twisted into a grimace. "Why can't I leave this room?"

"You'll have to ask my brother Nik about that. I am enjoying myself, watching you struggle to move through that doorway. I'm guessing he compelled you to stay in there."

"What?"

"Rebekah!" She spun and Klaus came up angrily behind her. "I told you to leave my guest in peace, didn't I? She isn't to be disturbed."

"Whatever..." Rebekah walked off and Klaus came down the hallway.

"What did you do to me? Why can't I leave this room?"

"You can't leave because I told you not to. Compulsion, remember?"

"But I can't be compelled, you tried it on me before."

"Yes, but you weren't under the influence of vervain then. It seems instead of it burning you, you simply get very weak. Weak enough that I was able to compel you when we arrived here yesterday."

"Yesterday?" It was Tuesday? How could I have been asleep for a whole day?! "Did you compel me to sleep or something?!"

"Yes, actually. I can't have my person blood donor exhausting herself with worry, now can I? I also changed your clothes, they were terribly filthy...And that tiny gown flatters you _so_ much more."

I covered myself with my hands. "That's..." Klaus changed my clothes. He saw me _naked._ "Don't you ever do that again! How dare you look at me like that!"

My face heated up as he walked in the doorway, forcing me backward into the room. I crawled onto the bed and he pushed me down, and when I tried to push him away, I couldn't.

"I also compelled you to not resist me. I gave you more vervain this morning, so you've got a few days until it's fully out of your system. Which leaves me a few more days to compel you to do what I want."

"What? No!" Klaus climbed atop me and I willed myself to push him away, but my arms didn't move an inch. "Get off of me!"

"Stop screaming." His turquoise blue eyes stared into mine, and I stopped shouting. damned compulsion. "Now that I have you quiet and complacent...I wonder what I should do with you."

"Let me go."

"I think not." Klaus skimmed his nose along my neck, undoubtedly smelling my blood beneath my skin. "Your half-human blood smells so exquisite...Better even then that Elena's blood, when she was human."

"I don't care how my blood smells or tastes or anything...I only care about keeping it _in_ my veins."

"Well, I think personal blood donor means you have to let me feed on you." Klaus lowered his mouth to my neck and did just that.

It didn't hurt nearly as much as the first time he fed on me, but I guess that was because I was still a little out of it from the vervain he'd given me.

I held my breath until he released himself from my neck, but nearly choked exhaling when he dripped my own blood down onto my face.

"Now you're all blood-spattered...How wonderful." He licked the blood off my face and I shuddered inwardly. "Since you're behaving, you may walk around the house now. But you are not to leave it." He compelled me again and I cursed.

"Fine...Can I at least put some normal clothes on?"

"No. You stay in this. And if Stefan or Damon or any of their friends come inside this house to try to save you, kill them." I gasped as he climbed off of me.

"You can't do that!"

"I can, and I did." He left the room and I jumped up and ran after him. "Following me now?"

"I don't want to kill anybody. I shouldn't be here, so if anyone comes to get me, I'm leaving."

"I've compelled you, you don't have a choice. And just in case you can't kill them..." Klaus spun and looked me in the eyes again. "If someone does manage to take you from here, you drink some of my blood and turn yourself into a vampire." He handed me a small vial of what I knew was his blood. "Keep this on you at all times."

I slipped it into my pocket and muttered "This isn't fair...What if they do rescue me and I do this, and I don't turn? What if I just die?"

"Then I suppose I'll have to bury you in the yard." I gasped and Klaus walked out the front door, leaving me alone in the house.

I slammed the front door shut and went back up the stairs, slamming the bedroom door as well. I saw my phone on the bedside table and went to it, but the only number still in it was Klaus'. He deleted all my contacts!

Now I didn't even have anyone's phone number to call for help again.

I laid back and stared at the ceiling, then out the window at the night sky. What time of night was it anyway? And why'd Klaus compel me to sleep for a whole day?

"Sitting here pitying yourself isn't going to help your situation much." I looked over at Alaric's ghost, sitting up on the bed beside me. He looked down at me. "Not going to escape?"

"I can't leave the house. If anyone comes to rescue me, I have to turn myself into a vampire using Klaus' blood. I don't really have any options here..."

"That is a bad situation...But what can I really do? I'm dead."

"Exactly..." That gave me a thought. "Jeremy can see you, right?"

He shook his head. "He hasn't been able to since he became a hunter. Probably because I was a vampire right before I died."

"What about Bonnie? I know witches can contact the dead, and see them sometimes." He nodded. "Can you go to her and tell her what's going on? About me being compelled?"

"I can try...But I can't promise anything. Bonnie's been a little off since she had to use a dark magic spell to desiccate Klaus' body." I raised an eyebrow. "We tried to kill him, but failed. Again."

"Please just try." He nodded and disappeared from view, hopefully to wherever Bonnie was at. I hoped dearly she would see and hear him, because I wanted out of this place as soon as possible.

Not just here, but Mystic Falls in general. Screw it if I couldn't afford Richmond, I'd go to another town, any other town, as far away from here as I could get. I couldn't handle much more of the stress this town and its residents were putting on me. I wondered how I ever survived here before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I couldn't sleep, and it was sunrise before Klaus returned to the house. I was sitting on a chair in the parlor when he walked in the door, shopping bags in hand.

"Here, you'll wear these while you're here." He dropped the bags beside me and immediately went into the kitchen. I looked through them and found lots of silky, lace things, and pushed the bags onto the floor.

"I don't dress like a whore."

"You'll dress how I tell you to. Unless you want me to remind you of what I can make you do?" I shuddered. "Now get dressed."

I took the bags in one hand and stood, but Klaus walked in and said "Did I say get dressed upstairs? I don't believe I did."

I dropped the bags again and replied "You can't be serious."

"Oh, I am. Now strip down, love." I groaned and complied with what he said.

I slowly pulled off the nightie he'd made me wear, revealing the plain black bra and undies I wore beneath. I looked through one bag and found a fancy red pair, and a little robe that went with them.

"Do I seriously have to wear this? Can't I wear some jeans or something?"

"Dress. Now." I sighed.

Klaus stood and mercilessly watched as I stripped bare and halfheartedly tried to cover myself. I quickly dressed in the new things and tied the robe around me again, and sat back down on the couch.

I tried hard not to start crying and I forced out "Are you happy now that you've embarrassed me? I've never been more humiliated..."

"Oh, it's not that bad, love. I'm sure all your boyfriends love the way your body looks. I know I do." I pulled my legs up to my chest and hugged them, and buried my face between my knees. "Dani?"

"Stop acting like you care about anything." I couldn't keep the sob out of my voice. "Nobody's ever seen me, and I didn't want anyone to. Especially not _you."_ I put as much malice into my voice as I could, but it didn't seem to do anything.

"Your twenty years old and haven't been with anyone? Well, I'm honored to be the first."

My head snapped up. "No! I haven't slept with you and I never will! I'll smash your blood vial and run out that door and kill myself before I let that happen!"

Klaus' hand flew to my chin and gripped it tightly. Oh no, he was going to compel me again...

"You will not commit suicide unless you have a vampire's blood in your system, do you understand?"

"Yes..." He let go and I buried my face again. "Just go away...I want to be alone."

"Fine." He surprised me by getting up and walking into the other room. "I expect one or more of your friends to be showing up here sometime today, so I suggest you get a weapon ready. I have the stake they need to kill me, but just to be careful."

I groaned. I didn't want to have to kill anyone. But since I was compelled, I knew I didn't have a choice.

I went upstairs and retrieved my gun with the wooden bullets. I didn't remember putting it or anything into Klaus' closet, but knowing him, he'd probably told me to put them there while I was compelled. I took it with me downstairs and sat on the couch again, tucking it between the cushions.

I wasn't at all religious, but I prayed desperately that nobody would try to come and rescue me.

I was, of course, ignored. It was barely an hour later, when the sun was finally bright up in the sky, that I heard the sounds of a car coming up to the house. I looked out the window and saw it was Damon's Camaro that I'd ridden in before.

I went upstairs to Klaus' room and told him "My cavalry just drove up to your front door. Would you like me to jump out the window now?"

"I'll go deal with them. You go in the kitchen and fetch me a drink, would you?" I grumbled as I hurried back down the stairs, my arms wrapped protectively around me, and into the kitchen.

After I got the drink, I stayed there to hear what Klaus and the others were saying to each other.

Klaus- "Stefan, Damon...and Tyler? What a nice surprise." Tyler? I don't think I'd met him yet.

The unfamiliar Tyler said "You kidnapped someone, and we're here to take her back."

Klaus- "Did your little girlfriend put you up to this? Caroline did seem quite worried when I took young Dani."

Stefan- "Stop playing games, where is she?"

Klaus- "She's here, of course. Right in the kitchen. Dani, would you come in here?" I groaned and stepped out of the kitchen.

When I entered the room and sat beside Klaus, three pairs of eyes widened with shock. Klaus simply chuckled and took his drink from me, and I clenched my hand around the gun still tucked between the couch cushions.

Stefan furiously spouted "Dani?! What the heII happened to you?!"

"I was compelled to dress like this...I'm usually immune, but **he** gave me some vervain and I guess it weakened me enough that I could be compelled."

Stefan's eyes moved to Klaus, while the other two's remained locked on me.

"Klaus, you let her go right now...She didn't do _anything_ to anyone!"

"Yes, but she _could_ do something. Dani cannot be compelled without vervain, can walk in the sunlight without a witch ring, and can blend with humans indefinitely better than we can. I intend to use her."

"Why?! You have other vampires and witches and humans under your control, why her too?"

Klaus stood. "As I said, Dani is the only one of us that can belong to both worlds at once, so she will be very useful when it comes to some...things I need taken care of. Like finding your creator, perhaps."

Now Damon reacted as well. "You're going to try to use Dani to find Katherine? How's that supposed to work?"

"If Katerina knows I am coming, she will undoubtedly run. But if she thinks a human is looking for her...I will have her back in my grasp in no time. She may also be of use in finding that idiotic younger brother of mines, Kol. Like me, he's always interested in whatever new creatures happen to pop up in this tiny town."

"Wouldn't it spoil your plans if we just took her now?" Klaus grinned and stood face-to-face with Damon. "What are you smiling about?"

"I'm smiling because I've already won this argument. I've compelled Dani to shoot whomever attempts to rescue her, but if you somehow succeed in removing her from this house, she will commit suicide with my blood in her system. We all know what'll happen then, now don't we?" Everyone tensed, including me.

I removed the gun from between the couch cushions and stood, and pointed it at Stefan. Klaus sat back down as I said "I think you should leave now."

"Dani..." I shook my head.

"I don't wanna shoot you Stefan. You're one of my only friends here, but if you try to take me, I won't be able to stop myself...And I don't want to turn into a vampire either. So please, just get outta here before he makes me shoot you."

Him, Damon, and Tyler all looked at each other before slowly making their way to the door. I followed them, gun still pointed forward, and stopped just short of the doorway.

"If you find a way to desiccate Klaus I'll be released from his compulsion, or find a way to release me with a spell or something. Please." Stefan nodded and I pushed the door shut, dropping the gun on the floor.

Klaus was immediately at my side and said "I don't believe I said you could speak to them."

I spun and responded harshly with "I don't believe I give a shît. You locked me up in here, embarrassed me in the worst possible way, and tried to force me to kill my friends...I don't even care if you feed on me anymore, or try to turn me into a vampire anymore. 'Cause if you do, I'll just go walk out in the sunlight and kill myself."

Klaus looked rather impressed. With me or with himself though, I didn't know.

"Well, you seem to have all your priorities in order...Except, even if you turn into a full vampire, I can still compel you not to kill yourself." At my shocked expression, he simply taunted me with "I bet your precious Stefan forgot to tell you that, didn't he?"

My face twisted into a grimace.

"Why am I here, really? You can spout off all you want to them about using me for stuff, but you tried to keep me here even before you knew what I was."

"It seems you were keen enough to catch me on that, so I guess I will tell you. It was the taste of your blood that drew me to you, as I first said. My blood is unique, it can cure werewolf bites and create hybrids. Since you found out about yourself, have you not wondered what your blood may be able to do?"

I shook my head. I honestly hadn't thought a thing about it, mostly because I was busy worrying about getting kidnapped.

"My blood probably doesn't do a thing...You've been drinking it and you're no different, obviously."

"Except I can compel you now." I tried to say something, but no words would come out. "I lied about giving you vervain last night. There is none in your system now, but I do have your blood in mine, and that is what is allowing me to compel you. I didn't want to reveal that tidbit to your friends, just in case they tried to use it against me."

"And what's stopping me from telling them the next time they show up here?" He stepped closer and I stepped back against the front door.

"You have to listen to me, and I'm ordering you not to say anything." I cursed to myself. "Anything I find out about your half-vampire status, you are not to reveal to anyone. Don't even speak about yourself to anyone unless I give you permission. Understand?"

I nodded grimly. Klaus patted my head and said "That's a good girl. Now, how about a drink?"

I looked at him oddly, until I realized he was talking about my blood. I pulled down the neck of my robe and he said "You've learned not to hesitate. That will come in handy in future, I should think."

"Just...shut up and take your drink already."

"I didn't say I wanted to drink from your neck." I stared openly at him, trying to step back, but I was already caught against the door. "Take off that robe."

I shook my head, but did as I was ordered. "Don't do this...Please..." There was no sobbing or tears, just...remorse. I didn't want him to do this, I wasn't ready, just like when he'd made me undress in front of him. "Klaus, I can't do this..."

He looked me in the eye as he said "I will drink blood from you right now, and you won't try to stop me." I whimpered as I nodded.


	5. Unwilling

I laid back on Klaus' bed, perfectly still except for when I would twitch, which was whenever I heard a sound. Klaus had ordered me to lay like this while he showered, because he'd gotten my blood on him when he fed on me.

Flat on my back, legs spread apart, arms down at my sides, and I had to stare directly up at the ceiling. It'd made me incredibly embarrassed because I was still only in the bra and panties, and I felt so...exposed.

I heard a door open and close, but I couldn't turn my head to look. When I heard the closet open, I knew it must've been Klaus coming from his bathroom.

"How long do I have to lay like this? I'd like to get dressed."

"Well, I haven't decided when I will let you get dressed. If I ever do." He chuckled at the horrified gasp I made. "Don't sound so surprised, Dani."

"I'm...not." My lie didn't sound convincing. I knew he was evil, enough to take me prisoner, but to make me wear nothing but my underwear the entire time I was with him? It was loathsome! "Can I at least cover up with a blanket or something?"

"Stop complaining." I was about to say something else, but I couldn't open my mouth. Damn him and his compulsion. "Ahh, that's much better. Isn't it?"

"I'm not allowed to complain, so I'm not allowed to answer that." He laughed.

"Well, that's unfortunate." There was a brief pause when I heard an odd _swishing_ sound, and I guess he was using a towel to dry off. "You can move your head, you know."

I felt my neck muscles loosen, but I didn't turn my head. I knew he was trying to make me look at him nude, but I wasn't going to take the bait.

"I'd rather keep staring at the ceiling, if it's all the same to you. You're not yet decent."

The bed creaked and moved as Klaus climbed up on all fours. I turned my head to avoid looking at him, but he grabbed my face and turned it back. His light brown hair was damp from the shower and he didn't have a shred of clothing on, so his entire pearly-white physique was now visible to me.

I couldn't keep my face from flushing dark red, and he chuckled.

"Don't be so embarrassed. You and I will be spending a lot of time together in the coming days, and I suggest you get used to being like this. If I'm having you as my prisoner, I intend to fully enjoy this body of yours."

I kept my mouth shut as his face lowered, and he pressed his mouth to my neck. I felt the small nip as his teeth bit into my flesh, but he let go after only a few seconds and the skin started to heal back up again.

"I don't know if I'll ever get enough of that taste. Or the strength your blood gives me." I looked at him oddly. "Here, you'll see what I'm talking about."

Klaus reached up and scratched at his neck, and blood started to flow freely out of the vein there. He stared at me until I reached my mouth up to the wound and tasted his blood.

Somehow it was different from before, tasted better, and I sucked at his wound greedily. He allowed my hands to go free and I grabbed at him and held him close, unable to keep myself from drinking as much as I could.

"That's enough, love. I don't want you to get blood-drunk." I let go and some blood spilled from my mouth down onto my chest, and my breathing was labored. "How do you feel now?"

I couldn't explain it. I felt...wonderful. Energetic. Alive. His blood had excited my system and heightened my senses and made me feel absolutely amazing.

And when Klaus put his lips to mine I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back. It felt like I had a lifetime of energy pent up inside me and I needed some way to get rid of it.

"It seems my blood is having an unexpected effect on you..." I opened my mouth to say something but he held up a finger. "Shh." My mouth clamped shut again. "I know you have no idea what you're doing, so let me show you what I can do."

With a flick of the wrist my bra came off, and with another my panties came off as well. I shuddered a bit as Klaus pressed his warm body against mine and put his lips against my chest. He kissed and licked and nibbled on my nîpplês and I moaned with excitement, my moans growing louder as his mouth traveled lower.

I shrieked and Klaus took his mouth off of me, saying with a worried tone "Are you alright?"

I nodded, but because of his compulsion, I couldn't say a word. Instead, I pulled his face up to mine and kissed him again, wrapping my legs around his lean waist. Klaus didn't hesitate to enter me, and I let out a loud gasp when he did.

"Oh...my...Oh..." With every forceful thrust a breathless word escaped my lips, but even that dissolved into meaningless little moans as the passion heightened. "Oh...Oh..! Ooooooh!"

I dug my fingers into Klaus' back as my body began to tremble and every muscle in my body tightened and tensed. My back arched as I let out a wail, and he kept pounding into me and the passion kept building and building until I tightened around him and a wave of pure pleasure rolled over me.

I could feel the sweat pooling on me and dampening my hair as my body relaxed back onto the bed. My breathing was heavy, and I opened my eyes to see the bright turquoise of Klaus' eyes barely an inch from mine.

He brushed some of my silver hair from my face and said "You look like you rather enjoyed that." I nodded, his compulsion still preventing me from speaking. "You can talk now."

"Sorry...it must not've been very enjoyable for you..." He grinned.

"Did I say I was done?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You have a lot of my blood in your system, so you should be able to run like me, at least for a little while. Run if those Salvatores or anyone else tries to take you." I nodded. Klaus was sending me into town for more blood and liquor, because he was running low on both.

"Now it is obligatory that I come back?" He frowned and I tried not to laugh. "How do you know I'll be able to run fast?"

"Because you were able to injure me." He turned and I saw the scratch marks down his back that were only half-healed. "Remember, if they capture you, you turn yourself." I nodded. "Good luck. And try not to let anyone see up that dress, hm?"

I pulled up the hem of the tight, short dress he made me wear and said "I wouldn't have to worry about it if I could wear normal clothes."

I took the keys to his Jaguar and left the house. The only reason he was allowing me to go was because I was compelled to come back, or turn myself into a vampire if anyone captured me. I knew I would be free of his compulsion if I did that, but I didn't want to be a vampire.

Even with the amazing amount of energy I had that hadn't diminished at all with our little 'encounter.'

It was only a few minutes into town, and I went directly to the hospital. There was a nurse there that was compelled to give blood whenever Klaus or someone he sent asked for it, and she gave me a whole suitcase full of it. I guess it would last two weeks, maybe longer with how much he'd been feeding on me.

I put that in the passenger seat of the car and went to the Grill next, deciding it'd be easier than trying to get it from the liquor store. There were a bunch of teens in there, but I passed by them and went straight to the bar.

I asked the bartender "Is Matt working today?"

"Yeah, he's in back." I turned and went through the side door to the back of the place, and saw Matt emptying his busboy bin into the dishwasher. When he saw me, he nearly shouted.

"Dani! I thought Klaus took you?! And what are you _wearing?"_ I tried not to take offense at his shocked tone.

"Klaus sent me here to get him some things...He also made me wear this. Give me some bottles of whiskey or something that I can take back to him."

"Why?"

"Because that's what he wants, and I'm under compulsion to get it." Matt looked unsure, so I decided to try something. I looked him right in the eyes and said "Give me some liquor."

He went in a different room and I almost jumped with glee. I took my phone from my pocket, which Klaus had finally returned to me, and called him.

"Something going wrong with the pickup?"

"Actually, something went very right. It seems your blood is letting me compel people too."

"Really?" He sounded pleased. "Well, I suggest you use that fully to your advantage while you're in town then. Perhaps you should visit the Salvatore house and retrieve the rest of my daggers for me, hm?"

"Okay..." I hung up as Matt brought me an entire box full of different bottles. "You won't remember I was here."

He nodded and I decided to take the back entrance out of the Grill, and went all the way around back to the car. As I was putting the box in, I saw Caroline and Tyler down the block, and i knew they saw me too, because they both froze.

I quickly got into the car and started it, and they were both instantly at the passenger side window.

Caroline said "Dani, you're free?! How'd you get away from Klaus?!"

I pulled out my gun and said "I didn't." I shot her in the shoulder with a wooden bullet and she fell, and Tyler was distracted enough that I was able to quickly drive away.

I decided to skip going to the Salvatore house and just went straight back to Klaus' mansion. He was waiting for me on the front stoop.

"I thought I told you to go to the Salvatore house?"

"You also told me to run if I saw anyone. I saw Tyler and Caroline and shot Caroline in the shoulder before I drove away. I don't think I would've been very welcome."

He smirked. "You didn't hesitate to shoot a friend? You're becoming even more like me than I thought possible."

I sneered. "Caroline isn't my friend. And if any of the others were my friends, they would've found a way for me to leave here already."

"What's the matter, not satisfied with your stay here?" I understood the inflection of his words, and it made my face go red.

"That has nothing to do with it. Regardless of the fact that I was allowed to go out _today,_ I'm a prisoner here. I'm not allowed to do, say, wear, or go where I want to, and I'm being relegated to be your personal blood bag. I'm almost wishing I was a _vampire_ right now instead of all of this...At least then I would be able to run from you and never come back."

"Oh, but I'd find you. Katerina spent 500 years trying to run from me, but I found her eventually. I can assure you, there will be nowhere someone like you can hide that I would not find you." I frowned deeply. "Now, did you pick up my things or not?"

"They're in the car." I threw the keys at him as hard as I could and stormed into the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat and stared out of the parlor windows, hoping someone would come again, but they didn't. Klaus' blood was finally leaving my system and the happy, energetic effects it had on me were wearing off. I still wore the tight little dress he'd made me wear earlier that day, only because I wasn't allowed to take it off and rip it to shreds like I wanted to.

"Can I have my phone?" I knew Klaus would hear me, even if I didn't speak up.

"Alright. But only because you can't leave the house, and they can't come in to get you." I grumbled as he sped into the room and pressed my phone into my hand. "Give them any information or try to plot an escape, and I'll turn you into a vampire now."

"Oh, yippee..." I sat still until he left the room again, and looked into my phone's contacts. He'd replaced Stefan's number, so I called him.

"Dani?"

"Yeah...Look, before you say anything, I'm sorry."

"For shooting Caroline you mean? I think you should be apologizing to her, not to me. Why did you do it?"

"I was compelled to...If I saw anyone I was supposed to attack them and run. Have you found out anything...about what we talked about?"

He lowered his voice. "About getting you out? The only way to do it would be to desiccate Klaus, and there's a spell to do it, but Bonnie already did it once and some bad stuff happened to her because it's a dark magic spell."

"Isn't there anything else you can do?"

"Not really...Klaus is way too powerful. The only way we'd really be able to do it would be to kill him, but that would kill me, Damon, Caroline, Elena, and even Tyler, since our bloodlines all come from Klaus. I'm sorry."

"It's...okay. I suppose I'll just have to deal with things until we find some way to get me out...I just..." I paused as a sob rose in my throat. "...I don't know if I can handle the things he's been doing to me anymore..."

A tear slipped down my face as I sobbed into my phone. I heard Stefan's voice fill with worry on the other end.

"Dani, what happened? What did Klaus do to you?!"

"He compelled me and drank my blood, then made me drink his blood...and we...we..." I couldn't say it. I felt like if I forced myself to say the words, then I would crumble into an incomprehensible mess.

"Dani, listen to me." His voice was suddenly very firm. "I'm going to come there to get you and bring you back to my house."

"What?! But if I leave, I'll have to turn myself into a vampire..."

"We have a little bit of vervain left, and you can take it to keep yourself weak. All we have to do is keep you from drinking any vampires blood, and you won't have to hurt yourself, right?"

"I...I guess...But how are you gonna get me out?"

"You still have that gun, right? If you shoot him the head, he should be knocked out long enough for us to get you away from here. We only have one shot to do this, I hope you know."

"Okay...When do you wanna?"

"I'm getting Tyler and Damon and we're leaving right now. We'll be there in ten minutes...You just do what you need to, and we'll get you away as quick as we can."

"Please hurry." I hung up and looked in the hall just outside the parlor, but didn't see Klaus. I hoped dearly he hadn't heard anything I'd said, and I went through the house to look for him.

I made sure I had my gun with me, tucked under the tight folds of my dress.

I found Klaus in his room digging in the closet, wearing only a loose-fitting pair of jeans. When I walked in, he stopped and turned and I saw his torso, bare except for a tiny trail of hair that led from his navel down under the edge of those jeans. I averted my eyes, instead choosing to stare him in the face.

It was a lot less unnerving.

"Dani...done plotting your escape with Stefan?" My face filled with horror, but when he grinned I realized he was joking, and I let out a long sigh.

"Don't do that. I thought you were gonna rip my head off or something..." He chuckled. "Going somewhere?"

"Thought I might stop in at the Salvatore house and see what my enemies are up to. Going to remain here while I'm out?" I shrugged.

I kept what Stefan said in my head as I strutted slowly up to Klaus. _You just do what you need to..._

Klaus raised an eyebrow as I put my arms around his neck and said "I thought you might stay here for a few extra minutes and keep me company..."

He put his hands on my waist. "What sparked this change of mind?"

"Um...Damon answered the phone, and he was being really rude, and I got all upset..." I looked up into his turquoise eyes and said as sweetly as I could "And you know how I hate feeling upset..."

There was a _whoosh_ of

air and we were suddenly on the bed, with Klaus laying his body over mine again.

"Well love, I guess I'll just have to make you feel better." He kissed at my neck and my body shuddered automatically, and I reminded myself mentally that I was supposed to be luring him.

I reached down under my dress and my hand closed around the hard steel of my gun. I grinned mentally, but when I pulled it out and pointed it at Klaus, his hand closed around it too.

He pulled his head up and said "Trying to do away with me?"

"Maybe I am. What're you gonna do about it?"

He tossed the gun over by the doorway and said "Even when you're trying to kill me, you're incredibly sêxy." His mouth went to my neck again and I gasped, gripping him tightly.

"Oooh..."

I turned my head towards the doorway and saw a glimpse of Stefan there, and he seemed to see me too. I reached my hand out and he nodded.

Stefan quickly grabbed for the gun and fired a shot off, and something wet spurted onto my face.

Klaus went limp in my arms and I pushed his body off, wiping my face and seeing blood there.

I quickly got up and said "What took you so long?"

"Sorry." Damon and Tyler came in, their eyes going wide.

I went to Tyler and said "Sorry for shooting your girlfriend..."

"It's okay, I heard about how that bâstârd compelled you. Just...no more bullets, huh?"

I laughed and Stefan uneasily mentioned "You know, we have at most a few hours until he wakes up...I think we should be going."

"We should go to my apartment first." Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Vampires can't get in my apartment now, remember? Wouldn't it be safer than going to your house, where anyone can just walk in?"

"That is true...Let's lock Klaus in the basement or something first and give him some vervain, just to give us a few extra hours. That's about as much as we can do right now." I nodded. "Do you know where he keeps his vervain?"

"Downstairs, in the liquor cabinet...I'll go wait in the car, I can't handle being in this house anymore..." I followed Damon out to his car while Stefan and Tyler took care of Klaus' body.

Once I was safely in the backseat of the Camaro, Damon remarked "You looked like you were getting pretty cozy there with Klaus...Anything we should know about?"

"Please don't start with me...I did what I had to so I could get away. Anything else is none of your business."

"Whatever you say...I just think we should know if there's a chance you might be a little more attached than you're letting on." I scowled and he didn't respond.

Stefan and Tyler came out and Tyler got in back with me and we drove off. We went right to my apartment, but I discovered there wasn't much of a reason to.

The rest of the weapons were gone and so were my clothes. The only things left in the entire apartment were he furniture and food, and some miscellaneous stuff I'd brought from Richmond.

"Seriously? The guy takes me prisoner and has to get rid of all my stuff too?" I noticed it was unusually silent, and when I turned I saw nobody was with me. When I went back in the other room, I saw them still standing outside the doorway. "Sorry, I forgot...Come in."

Stefan stepped in first "Klaus probably has your things at his house and hid them somewhere...It's too risky to go back and look for them now."

"What am I supposed to do then? The only clothes I have are the ones I'm wearing!"

"Do you have any money saved up?"

"Not enough to buy a whole new wardrobe!"

"I'll help." I looked at Tyler. "I can give you some money, and Caroline can take you out shopping or something...She loves doing that." I must've looked hesitant, because he said "She doesn't blame you for shooting her...I think she actually wants to talk to you too."

"Okay...Can you just have her buy some stuff and bring it to the Salvatore house? I don't feel safe going out with _him_ looking for me." He nodded. "Thanks..."


	6. Rogue Retribution

**(Klaus' PointOfView)**

"You let me the heII out of here **right now!"** I could smell Elijah on the other side of the thick door but he said nothing, and I pounded on the old wood. Those dâmnêd Salvatores shot me and drained my blood, then had the nerve to fill my veins with vervain. Me! "Elijah!"

"It seems you are not as invincible as you thought, Niklaus. When I heard you took Dani prisoner again, I wondered how long it would take until they freed her. But for you to be locked inside this tiny underground room like this...It's like you're not a vampire at all."

"Open the door and find out how weak I am. Just get me the heII out of here so I can go show those Salvatores what they get for doing this to me..."

I heard Elijah chuckling through the door and pounded on it again.

"If you go thundering in there without a single thought, they'll certainly defeat you again. You've almost always been the evil, calculating one; can't you see what blind fury will do to you?" I said nothing, and the latch on the door clanged open.

I pulled the door open and Elijah stood, looking quite smug.

"I am not weak, and those Salvatores won't get away with what they've done. All I have to do is grab one little stake and I can be rid of the both of them in one shot."

"The same goes for you, Niklaus. They took the white oak stake when they rescued Dani. I'm sure they've hidden it somewhere you'll have trouble finding it. So, as I've said, think about your strategy before you go barreling in there unprepared."

"I sired Stefan and Damon's line, they won't risk killing me because it would mean killing themselves as well. I can't be daggered, so I've got nothing to worry about _brother."_

"Yet you were shot in the head and locked in your own cellar. I believe the term 'irony' would make itself at home here right now." I didn't find Elijah's comment enjoyable.

I sped upstairs to the fridge and found my supply of blood still intact, and immediately devoured a hearty portion of it. Once my veins were

filled with delicious red blood again, I went straight for the door and found my brother Elijah blocking my path.

"Elijah, I suggest you not interfere, unless you wish to become a casualty once again."

"I am not ignorant, Niklaus. As well as having the white ash stake taken, I know the Salvatores have the daggers as well. You have no way to incapacitate me."

"Well, I think breaking your neck ought to keep you down long enough for me to get Dani back...What do you think?" Elijah stepped aside and I said "There's a good brother, using your brain. Perhaps I'll even let you have a small taste of Dani's blood as a reward."

"I'd rather not. You don't yet know what that blood is doing to your body. Because Dani is neither human nor vampire, her blood may be beneficial now, but it may be doing underlying damage you don't yet know about."

"Brother, we are Originals. Indestructible as far as anyone else is concerned. One young woman's blood will do no less damage to me than the hundreds of thousands of other women I've fed on over the 1100 years we've been immortal."

"You say that now..."

Ignoring my brother's idiocy, I went straight out the door.

At the Salvatore's house, the lights were on and I could hear the sounds of them worrying over Dani within.

Knowing they most likely had weapons with them, I knocked on the door and all noise stopped at once. My mouth spread into a small grin as the door opened and Damon stood sentinel behind it.

"Damon, how good it is to see you...I'm here to pick up what's mine, if you'd be so kind as to return it to me." He sneered.

"We don't have anything of yours."

"Oh, but my prisoner is my property...My blood in her system is proof enough of that."

"Dani isn't your property or anyone else's."

"Oh really?" I pushed past Damon into the house. Dani was nowhere to be seen, but I knew she was in the house. I could smell her. "If she isn't anyone's property, then why are you keeping her here instead of allowing her to return to her apartment? I think you intend to try to use her for your benefit instead of allowing her to fulfill her potential."

"And sucking out all her blood and compelling her to be your slave is letting her 'fulfill her potential'? You know you're a hypocrite, right?" I turned from the interior of the house to face Damon again. His face was filled with much contempt.

"You also know I could snap your neck and simply search through this house until I find her, right? But I'll allow her one chance to come to me. Dani!" I spoke up so her less-sensitive ears could hear my voice calling. "This is your one chance to come back to me before I come looking for you...I assure you, it will get _very_ bloody if you make me wait!" I heard no obvious movement and sighed. "Well, I guess I'll be searching now."

I moved towards the stairs and a loud "No!" resounded throughout the house. Dani appeared in one of the bedroom doorways with Stefan behind, failing to stop her from revealing herself.

I sped to her and said "It is a very smart choice to do this...Now I won't have to rip out your friends' hearts."

"I'm not going with you...You fed on me, made me get dressed in front of you, even compelled me to _sleep_ with you!" There was a gasp of shock from Damon, which I studiously ignored. "You're horrible!"

"Yes, I did feed on you, and enjoy the spectacle of you undressing...But I didn't compel you to be intimate with me. You did that of your own free will, love. But you forgot to tell your buddy Stefan that, didn't you?"

Dani's face filled with tears and she ran into another room, slamming the door loudly behind her.

Stefan said angrily "I hope you're satisfied."

"Not really. But, I have none of her blood in my system so I cannot compel her, so it'd just take too much effort to drag her away. I think I'll leave her here for an extra day or two while I recuperate from you shooting me in the back of the head and draining every last drop of my blood." Stefan and Damon stared as I passed them going down the stairs and out the door.

In actuality, I had no desire to leave without her. Instead, I went around to the back of the house and jumped up to the window of the room Dani was in.

Through the window I could see that she had barricaded the door, making my job a lot easier. I stepped in and she jumped off the bed, and I saw how her tears were running down her face.

Dani didn't move or say anything, she simply stood and stared. I stepped forward and she still didn't move.

"Had a change of heart already?"

"No...I just thought I'd try to talk you out of keeping me prisoner."

"And how would that work out?"

"I'll give you my blood." A bit impressed, I sat on the bed to listen to her proposal. "I know the only reason you try to keep me around is to drink my blood, because you think it makes you extra strong...So I'll just drain a little bit of my blood everyday and give it to you, in exchange for not taking me prisoner."

"Or I could simply take your blood by force and compel you into being my slave again." She frowned.

"I want to be able to live a little. I just found out I'm a creature that shouldn't exist, and I'd like to find out more about myself. I can't do that if I'm stuck in your possession."

"How do you intend to find more about yourself? I have infinitely more resources than you."

"I found out I was a half-vampire from Alaric's ghost. I have my connection to the spirit world right there, and I can use my own human connections to find the person I need to. My mother should know how I truly became like this, and what the full extent of my abilities is, since she was the one to give birth to me."

"So you intend to find your mother...Yet you have nothing to go on..."

"I have my father. They were together before she was turned, and for a short time after. I will do this on my own, and if you try to stop me..."

"What? What will you do? Shoot me in the head again?"

"I know where Stefan hid the white oak stake, and I'll use it on you if I have to." I could not hold back the smile from my face. "What, do you think I'm bluffing?"

"I think you're not ready to kill someone. Least of all me, with all we've shared together..." _That_ elicited a reaction from Dani, who took several large steps back. "I know for a fact you won't kill me. I know for a fact you've become attached to me. That is why you did those things with me, and why I'm even here right now. If you really hated me, you would've yelled for your Stefan long ago."

Dani frowned. "Get out. I want to have a peaceful night's sleep, and you're getting in the way of it."

I contemplated staying anyway, but decided against it. Dani would most likely go back on her word of willingly giving me blood if I did, and her deal meant I didn't have to worry about keeping her hidden from Stefan and Damon.

"Alright love, I'll go. But, I'll be back tomorrow for my ration of blood. Don't forget." Her frowning face disappeared from view as I leaped from the window.

When I returned home, I discovered Rebekah waiting outside for me.

"Sister, what could you be doing here? I thought you wanted nothing to do with me?" She smirked.

"I came back because you finally let that child go. Do you intend to keep tormenting her, or can we move on to some real issues?"

"Tormenting? She was willing to be with me 100% of the way. I simply needed more time for other things. I will be visiting her quite frequently, though."

"Nik...you're despicable, you know that? First you couldn't stop fixating on Elena, now you're stuck on this little half-breed. You, my brother, need something to occupy you."

"Really? Because Dani is occupying me quite well. Or rather, _I'm_ occupying _her."_ Rebekah looked disgusted and I laughed.

"Have you forgotten about your precious hybrids? They've been running rampant since you decided to ignore them. Perhaps you've forgotten about Kol as well, who is undoubtedly lurking somewhere, waiting for his chance to strike at us."

"My hybrids are doing fine. As for our brother...we will deal with him when he decides to show his face."

"And how do you expect to do that? You haven't got a single one of your daggers."

"I don't need one. I have Dani to help us." Rebekah looked puzzled. "I won't reveal the details now, but I know certain...things about Dani's physiology that I doubt even she herself knows. I can use those things against our brother to detain him, when the time comes."

Rebekah sped away and I entered my empty home.

"It is a bit more lonely without you here Dani..."

Oh well. I'd find something else to occupy my time. Perhaps I'd go and check up on my hybrids. They had been running rampant, and it was time they were reminded I was here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Dani's PointOfView)**

"Where's Stefan?" Damon trotted into my room, his customary glass of bourbon in hand, and sat on the edge of my bed. "Hello?"

"He...went out. Which gives me the perfect opportunity to ask you why Klaus was here." I froze. "I'm not an idiot like they are. My room is right next door, and I heard him jump in the window."

"Don't you worry about it Damon...I've got it handled."

"Really? Because you gave us the impression that he was keeping you prisoner. Having him show up here, talking privately in your room...Veeery suspicious."

I sighed. I didn't think Damon would be the one to notice"

"Those two nights ago, when Klaus jumped in the window, he threatened to take me again. I told him I wanted to find out on my own who my mom was, because she might know why I became like _this._ I begged for him to let me stay, and we made a deal..." This was the part I knew Damon probably wouldn't like. "If I give him some of my blood when he asks for it, he won't try to take me prisoner anymore."

"And you really think Klaus will stick to that deal? _Klaus?"_

I shrugged. "It was the only thing I could offer him...And I'm still here, aren't I? I'll take whatever I can get that keeps me out of that house..."

Damon surprised me by laughing. "What's so funny Damon? I've been laboring over this for two and a half days and you're _laughing?"_

"I'm still not convinced. I know you did something with Klaus, and I'm about 89% sure all this is just to cover it up. You don't want anyone to know you had sêx with him...And we all know what that leads to?"

Hesitantly, I asked "Leads to what?"

He slowly whispered "Love." I flinched and shook my head. He smirked and said "I knew it."

"No. He took me **prisoner** Damon, why would I have any feelings for _him?_ That's insane!"

"It might be, but you're the one that's crushing on him."

I scowled. "Get out." He didn't move and I shouted "Get out!"

Damon got up and left the bedroom chuckling, looking very pleased with himself. I got up and slammed the door shut and locked it, and laid back down on the bed.

Sometime later, I wasn't exactly sure when, there was a knock at my window. I looked over to see none other than Klaus perched there.

I opened it and he swooped in, and I plopped back down on the bed.

"So, how is my little half-breed today?"

"Horrible...I had to tell Damon about our arrangement." I heard Klaus growl under his breath. "I had no choice! He knew you came here the other day, and he would've told Stefan if I didn't give him some kind of explanation."

"Well, I guess I'll be having a few choice words with Damon later...In the meantime..."

I sat up and brushed my hair out of the way. With my time spent with Klaus, I knew he liked to feed from my neck, because that gave out the most blood. I shivered a bit at the thought of knowing his preferences so well.

He knelt down beside me on the bed and I felt the stinging pinch of his fangs piercing my skin, and sucked in a deep breath.

It was over in a few seconds, and when I released my breath, I felt lightheaded.

"Is that all you're taking right now? I can't have you popping in and out multiple times a day..."

Klaus smirked. "I told you love, your blood sustains me infinitely better than a normal human's does. I don't need to take very much before I'm at 100%."

"Fine...Now get outta here before Stefan gets home...I've explained things to Damon, I don't want to have to explain them to him as well..."

"Alright Dani, as you wish." He kissed my forehead and I shuddered a bit, and he disappeared back out of my window.

I went over and shut and locked the windows, just as Damon came upstairs again.

"Stefan's back, and he wants to talk to you." He looked at me oddly.

"Don't give me that look." I pushed past him out of the room as I made my way downstairs.


	7. A Troubling Journey

I took several deep breaths as I heard the phone ring on the other end of the line. Please answer, please answer, please answer...

"Hello? Who is this?" My breath froze in my throat at the sound of my dad's voice.

I halfheartedly forced out "Dad? It's me." There was silence on the other end. "Dad?"

"Dani? Tell me that isn't really you." I sighed.

"Yes, it's me...I'm happy that you're so happy to hear from me." Stefan's concerned eyes drifted my way and I ignored him.

"When your cousin told me you were moving back _there,_ I didn't expect I'd get a call from you, especially since you barely call anyway." He was right; I barely did call. But...

"That's your fault, and you know it. You should've told me something, anything about her, instead of leaving me with 20 years of silence." I sat back on the long leather couch and sighed. Every time I called my dad, the conversation always turned to my mother. It was the reason I barely called or visited.

"It was better for you to grow up knowing nothing than to know that she abandoned you."

"She didn't abandon me, you kicked her out."

"What? How can you say that?! You don't know what really went on!" I looked at Stefan on the chair and he nodded reassuringly.

"You mean the fact that mom got turned into a vampire while she was pregnant with me." There was more silence. "I found that out last week, along with the fact that I'm half-vampire. But you knew that already, didn't you?"

"Who told you? How did you find out?"

"I knew it! You knew about me and didn't say anything! How could you?"

"It was for your own good! Can you imagine how I felt having to feed you blood when you were a baby instead of formula? Or how I felt having to send you to school wearing a hat, or else other kids would know you were different?"

"I think knowing would've helped! Since I moved back here to Mystic Falls, I've been attacked, taken prisoner, been compelled, and have been fed on by Niklaus. Oh, and I've started seeing the ghost of the dead guy whose apartment I moved into. If you would've told me back then what I was, I would've moved to Ocean City or something!"

"You've been...fed on? Oh god..."

"That's great; _now_ you're worried. Thanks but no thanks, you're a little too late."

"Dani, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, I am...But you weren't supposed to have any contact with vampires, let alone have them feed on you."

Stefan and I looked worriedly at each other as I asked "Why not?"

"Your mother told me bad things would happen if you let a vampire feed on you. She didn't say what...just that it would be very bad."

"I thought she left right after I was born?"

"She did...but not after giving me some information first. I don't know how she knew what she did..." I took in a deep breath. I knew it was going to come to this eventually...

"Dad, what is my mom's name? I need to find her."

"Why? You already know what you are, there's no need to be involved with any more vampires..."

"But you said something bad would happen if I got fed on. I need to know what that is, or else a lot of my friends might die." My dad sighed.

"Her name was Ivy, okay? When we first met she went by Izzy too, so try that too. If you somehow find her, don't you dare tell her where I am."

"Why? Did she make you promise not to tell?" He was silent and I realized I was probably right. "Whatever...Thanks for making me wait 20 years and 20 pints of blood to figure this out." I hung up and tossed my phone down, leaning back further into the couch. "Stefan, do you honestly think we'll be able to do this?"

"Maybe...It would be a lot easier if Klaus wasn't interfering in everything though." I cringed, knowing he was also referring to Klaus still feeding on me. I'd had to tell him last week, not long after I told Damon.

"I'd rather have him interfering then taking me prisoner and preventing us from doing anything at all. Anyways...we have a name now. How do we find her?"

"Your mom would technically still be alive now, so she's probably still using her real name and information. All we have to do is go to the police station and see if Caroline's mom will look her up for us." I groaned. "I can do it if you want."

"That'd probably be best...But I might as well go into town with you, I haven't left this house since I cancelled my lease agreement." And I'd really liked the apartment too. I cleared out all of my and Alaric's things, so nobody else would have the chance to pick through his things.

It was all upstairs in the bedroom I now occupied here, and I still got the occasional visit from Alaric still. When he 'got too bored of haunting idiots that couldn't see him' were the words I think he used for it. We still hadn't found out exactly why I could see him and nobody else could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched Stefan go into the police station and sat on one of the benches in the town square. I knew Elizabeth had probably heard of my news by now, and I didn't want to have to explain it to her.

It was about noon and it was a Sunday, so there was a good amount of people milling about, and just as many driving. Even though Stefan or Damon drove me everywhere now, I loathed the fact that I still didn't have my own car. I couldn't go anywhere without someone having to take me, or at least keep an eye out for me. There was the fear of Klaus taking me again, or another vampire trying to take a bite out of me.

Now that my dad told me bad things would happen to the vampire that fed on me, I was contemplating ending the agreement with Klaus. He had been drinking my blood almost every day since I'd arrived a couple weeks ago, so whatever 'bad thing' was supposed to happen would definitely happen to him.

Unless it didn't work on Original vampires, or maybe it didn't work on hybrids? I had no idea. I just knew that he'd be angry if I let him continue, knowing there would be consequences.

As if on cue, I spotted Klaus with his sister Rebekah, coming out of the Grill across the square. I twisted on the bench to get a better look and it looked like they were arguing, but they were too far away for me to be able to hear. I knew Stefan would be able to hear if he was out here.

I bit my lip, and before I could consider the cons of what I was doing, called out "Klaus!"

They both stopped and Klaus looked my way, a pleasant smile spreading across his face. He released Rebekah's arm and was immediately before me, seeming not to care if anyone saw him running at lightning speed.

"Dani, I didn't expect to see you out about this Sunday afternoon. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I didn't come here for you." He sat beside me, and Rebekah gave me the meanest look, so I turned around and sat properly. "Stefan is inside talking to the sheriff about my mother. We're trying to find her."

"You did mention something about that to me before...Why the sudden eagerness?"

"I called my dad this morning, and he told me some...disturbing things..."

I opened my mouth to continue, but was cut off by Rebekah appearing and stating "It was probably about how disappointed he is in you for shacking up with a nest of vampires. Or maybe for becoming my brother's personal blood cow?"

Klaus growled. "Now sister dear, there's no need to be rude. This is a civil conversation, so please, don't act so barbaric."

She scoffed. "Barbaric? You're talking to me about barbaric? Unbelievable..." She disappeared over to Klaus' Jaguar and yelled out loud enough for me to hear "I'm taking the car!"

I watched her get in and drive away, and hoped she didn't purposefully crash it somewhere outside of town. I actually kinda liked the car.

"I apologize. Dear Rebekah isn't used to the idea that you and I are allied."

"That's probably because she walked in on you draining my blood and trying to get your rocks off." Klaus chuckled, but I was being mostly serious. I knew she was also jealous that I was somewhat close to her brother, but I didn't say anything about it, because I knew Klaus would probably tease her about it later and only make it worse.

"Anyways love, what were you saying?"

My dad said that bad stuff would happen to any vampire that drank my blood." The arm he'd thrown around my shoulders stiffened. "You were the only one that's been doing it, so I wanted to let you know."

"What bad things, pray tell?"

I shrugged. "He doesn't know, only my mom does. That's why I'm in such a hurry now to find her. And I think..."

"Worried about me now?" Klaus raised an eyebrow and I blushed deeply.

"I'm not going into that subject. I was _going_ to say that we should probably end our agreement, at least until we can figure out what's gonna happen to you, if anything at all."

"A sensible approach...Except we agreed that if I can't feed on you, you have to come and stay with me again." I groaned; I was hoping he'd forgotten about that. "I know what you're going to say, and no, I didn't forget. So, shall we go to the Salvatore house and get your things?"

I shook my head. "Isn't there something else, _anything else,_ that I can give you instead of having to be your slave again?" Klaus leaned back, looking contemplative. I had a feeling I'd end up regretting my choice of words later.

"Anything, you say? That entails quite a lot, you know."

"As long as it isn't being your prisoner, I'm up for almost anything."

His grinning mouth twitched and I knew he was about to say the thing I would regret.

Klaus leaned in and whispered in my ear, and I jerked back. "You can't be serious, can you? That? Really?!"

"It's your choice love. Be mine in my home, or be mine in your sheets. I won't decide for you."

My face burned red as I forced out "They won't be happy about this. Nobody will. I feel like you're forcing me to choose between being a slave and being a prostitute!" Klaus chuckled at that. "It's not funny."

"You're not a prostitute, you're just engaging in a sêxual relationship with a very rich, powerful man...Who requests that you be in your bed wearing his favorite piece of lingerie by 10pm tonight."

I sighed. "Don't think I won't hesitate to maim or otherwise harm you."

He laughed again. "I have more faith in you than that, Dani. Ah, I guess that's my cue to leave." I looked up and saw Stefan standing at the top of the police station stairs, staring over at us. "Until tonight then."

Klaus disappeared with a gust of wind, and Stefan made his way to me.

"What was that about?"

"Him and Rebekah were over by the Grill, so I told him he can't feed on me anymore, because of what my dad said."

"How'd he take it?"

"Not good..." At least for me. "So did you find anything out while you were in there?" He nodded and handed me several papers.

"There was only one person in the state of Virginia with that name, so it was pretty easy. Her last known address is from 3 months ago, in Lexington."

"That's not that far from here..."

"So lets get going." I looked at Stefan oddly. "There's no better way to find out if she's really there than to go. We can take my Porsche and be there in less than half an hour if we want. It's up to you."

I stood and said "We'd better stop and pick up a couple of weapons from the house then...She may be my mother, but she's still a vampire." It felt almost wrong to say it like that, but it was the truth. I didn't know the woman at all, except that she was a vampire that obviously didn't want me to find her.

I wasn't going to take any chances.

When we got back to the house, I saw that there was no need to go get any weapons. Klaus was standing in the parlor and Damon had a stake in one hand and what looked like an ampule of vervain in the other.

We walked in and Stefan slowly asked "What's going on here..?"

"Hybrid boy here showed up and tried to rifle through Dani's stuff. I caught him, we argued, I got weapons, and now he won't leave. But now that super Stefan's here, I'm leaving." Damon threw the things down and grabbed his leather jacket he always wore. As he passed, he muttered "If your little boyfriend keeps showing up like this, I'm gonna drive a stake through your heart."

I groaned and went past Stefan and Klaus to the liquor cabinet. As soon as I managed to open a new bottle of whiskey, I sat down and said "Okay, now I'm ready to hear why you showed up 10 minutes after agreeing to leave me alone."

"I'm here to make sure you uphold the terms of our recent agreement." Klaus didn't elaborate further, and I looked at Stefan to see if he would ask. Thankfully, he didn't. "It's not my fault Damon failed to remember we have an arrangement."

"Okay, okay, let's **please** stop talking about that...Stefan and I were about to leave to Lexington; we're pretty sure that's where my mother is right now. If you'd kindly leave so we can get ready..."

"Why? I'm going with you." I stared openly at Klaus, then down at the bottle in my hands, and debated throwing at his head. It would be a waste of liquor, and he'd probably dodge it. "Even ignoring the fact that we're in our relationship, you need to be protected, and there's nobody better than me."

"I beg to differ. Stefan has done pretty well by himself, and so has Damon. I could always bring Elijah along too, since he tried to keep you from tearing my throat out with your teeth before. Oh, or there's Tyler, who's a hybrid just like you..." He frowned slightly, and I turned to Stefan. "Am I right?"

"Yes...but so is Klaus."

"What?"

Stefan sighed. "Your situation is different from anything we've encountered. I can protect you, yes, but if there's someone more powerful than me involved in this, than it would be good to have Klaus along...However unfortunate that fact may be." I stared back and forth between Stefan's dejected face and Klaus' smug one.

"You know what, I don't give a fûçk anymore. Bring him along. But I am not, under any circumstances, riding in the same car or being stuck alone in the same room with him this entire trip. Understand?" Stefan nodded and I stormed out of the house to his car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trip to Lexington took almost an hour, because the highway we'd needed to go down was closed for repairs. I didn't take it as an omen, just an extreme annoyance that meant I'd be stuck in the car with Stefan and Klaus for an extra half an hour.

Oh, and because Klaus came, we took his Jaguar. I was in the backseat alone, but Klaus' eyes bore into me through the rear-view mirror, and it annoyed me to no end.

When we finally came to Lexington, I noticed it was almost as small of a town as Mystic Falls was. There was perhaps a few hundred, maybe even a thousand more people jammed into the same few square miles as Mystic Falls, and there was an Outdoor World sports shop right in the middle of town. An ever-present sign that this town was right in the middle of deer country.

As we drove slowly through the streets, I remarked "This town is almost as small as back home...She probably picked it because she wanted to lay low, not like in a big city."

"Yeah, and it probably feels familiar too. A lot of vampires will stick to the areas they knew as a human after they first turn. Here..." Stefan turned into a driveway and shut the car off. "Ready?"

"Am I ever?" We got out and I looked up at the house. It was a little two-story with a garage at the end of the driveway and a couple of chairs sitting on the porch. I went right up to the door and knocked, wanting to get things over with as soon as possible.

A man that looked about 25 or 30 answered the door with a tentative "Hello..?"

"I'm looking for an Ivy Taylor...Does she live here?"

"Yeah, she's right out in the kitchen...I'm her boyfriend Greg."

Klaus pulled me aside and stepped forward. "And we don't care. You get in your car and go home." Klaus compelled him, and the man immediately went to a Honda parked on the street and sped away.

I looked at him incredulously and said "You know, I don't believe I said to compel him."

"Would you rather have a human around if something were to go wrong?" I didn't say anything. "Exactly. Now, shall we be entering?"

This time, I pushed past him into the house, and looked in the front room. It was nice, almost like my father's house had been when I still lived with him. I didn't doubt now that those furnishings had been from when my mother was still human.

I heard someone moving around in the kitchen and motioned for Stefan and Klaus to come in. They did and shut the door, and a female voice called out "Greg? Who was at the door?"

We were all silent and footsteps echoed, and a black-haired woman entered the room. She stared silently at all three of us, and I immediately started to feel uncomfortable.

"You're Ivy?" The woman looked at Klaus, as did Stefan and I. "Well? Spit it out, woman."

"Yes. And who would you and your...companions be?"

He smirked and stepped forward. "You may call me Klaus, and this is Stefan. The wonderful, silver-haired beauty you see with us is Dani Taylor." She froze. "Need I explain why we're here?"

She shook her head. "No, you don't. I assume you compelled my boyfriend to go home, so how about we sit down and talk."

"How about not. I have no intention of getting comfortable with you." I stopped, surprised by my own boldness. I stared at my mother, and seeing her stunned expression, decided to continue. "You may or may not be the woman who gave birth to me, but you're not my mother. I don't have one, as far as I'm concerned."

She looked offended now. "How can you say that..?"

"How could you leave me and my father alone for 20 years? I could understand if you wanted to leave for awhile, because being a new vampire is hard and all, but never coming back? You didn't and still don't want anything to do with me, and as soon as we find out what we need to, I don't want anything more to do with you."

Even Klaus looked taken aback after I was finished ranting. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart down, because my head was starting to spin.

"I...don't really know what to say...Except that you're right. But would you really have wanted someone for a mother that couldn't do things with you like all the other mothers?" I didn't answer and she said "I guess there's no good way to answer that then...Why exactly did you come here?"

"I didn't find out I was a half-vampire until a couple of weeks ago when I was injured by this one." I jerked my thumb at Klaus and my mother looked shocked again.

"What? Your father was supposed to tell you about me and yourself as soon as you were old enough...Why didn't he?" I shrugged.

"I called him and he said you didn't want him to tell me." Now she looked angry, but I held up a hand. "It doesn't even matter...He told me you said some things about me, and we needed to confirm them with you."

"Alright. What did he tell you?"

"That you were turned while you were pregnant, and I was born while you were in transition." She nodded. "He also said I wasn't supposed to have contact with vampires, or let them feed on me, but he said he didn't know why."

"You may wish to sit down for this part." I looked at Klaus and Stefan on either side of me, and we all went over and sat on the lone couch. My mother stood before us after checking to make sure the curtains were shut. "Sorry, I don't have one of those fancy daylight rings like you do."

I waved my hand. "Please just get on with it."

"Alright...First, I'm going to ask which of you two fed on Dani." Klaus made a noise beside me. "And what are you, exactly? You don't smell like a normal vampire."

"Oh, I'm far from it dearie. I'll assume someone as informed as yourself knows about us Originals, but I'm a hybrid as well." My mother's blue eyes, which were a few shades lighter than mine, widened considerably. "Now, would you mind telling me how Dani's blood is supposed to be affecting me? Because I haven't felt a single thing yet except for incredible strength when I taste her blood."

I fidgeted at what Klaus was saying aloud. He'd only previously said those things when we were alone in his bedroom, and it made me extremely embarrassed to hear him say them in front of others.

"You're making my daughter nervous, I would appreciate it if you would please stop." Klaus chuckled and took my right hand in his left, and I didn't pull out of his grip. I was too worried about what my mother might possibly say. "You're an Original vampire, and a hybrid one at that, so I'm not sure my daughter's blood will affect you the same way it would other vampires."

"Well, when I drink your daughters blood, it allows me to compel her. Is that one of the things you're about to tell me?" She nodded.

"As you may have noticed, that will only work if your blood is in her system at the same time. But, you just wanted to know about what Dani's blood might do to you...Well, besides the compulsion and amazing strength, a vampire may temporarily lose his weaknesses if he drinks her blood. For instance, he won't be burned in the sun and vervain will not affect him as much."

"That sounds nice...so why should I be concerned?" I squeezed Klaus' hand tightly and he turned to look at me.

"When I was in transition and discovered that Dani had not died in my womb, I found a witch that said she would help me deliver Dani safely. She did, and after Dani was delivered we found out all these new things about her, but we also discovered it has the power to turn a vampire human again."

"Human..What?!" My shout went unnoticed in the deathly silent living room.


	8. Unbelievable

"Ivy! Mom! Please, please, _please_ tell me you aren't fûcking with me right now!"

My mother shook her head. "I'm afraid not. My witch Beth was concerned about what Dani would become, so she brought a trusted vampire friend of hers and had him taste some of Dani's blood. All was fine at first, but when he tried to take more by force, something happened and he was turned into a human. We aren't exactly sure how, but Beth was convinced that it was Dani's blood that was responsible."

"And that's why you told my dad I wasn't supposed to be around vampires?" She nodded. "You really couldn't have come and found me and told me any of this yourself? Because of you, the guy I've been sleeping with might die, and all of my new friends right along with him."

Stefan stiffened but I ignored him. He would've figured it out sometime anyways, so there was no point in hiding it anymore.

"He hasn't turned back into a human yet, so as long as he doesn't drink anymore, you should be alright." She looked at Klaus. "If it does work for you, you may not turn into a human. Because your werewolf side is a part of your DNA, you may just turn into a werewolf."

"Well, I guess I shouldn't do anything to trigger myself to be cured, now should I?" He stood, still holding my hand. "Come Dani, I think we're done here."

"But...I want to stay." He didn't seem to understand, so I said "I may not love her or even like her, but I need some time with her...Can't you understand?"

He sighed. "Alright, one night. In the morning, we're returning to Mystic Falls. Stefan." Klaus took his keys out and tossed them to Stefan. "Go back now."

Stefan stood. "I'm not leaving you alone with Dani, Klaus. Especially with what we've just found out."

Klaus smirked and let my hand go and turned to face Stefan. "You'll go home now, because Dani and I have some things to discuss that are quite...personal in nature. I'm sure you wouldn't want me to witness your arguments with your precious Elena, now would you?"

Stefan's face hardened and he simply walked out the front door without a word. I heard the Jaguar

start and the sound of the engine faded into the distance, until I couldn't hear it anymore.

"Now that he's gone..." He turned back to my mother. "How do you trigger the change into a human?"

"I told you, I don't know."

"And I can tell that you're lying. And since I'm an Original, I can compel you to give me the answer If I feel like it." My mother's eyes widened and he laughed. "You didn't know that?"

"No...Listen, you can't tell _anyone_ how to trigger the change, not even your friend there. If anyone were to know, it would put my daughter in an intense amount of danger, if not cause someone to try to kill her."

"I don't intend to harm or kill her...I cannot promise that for all of us, though."

She nodded. "After the vampire stole more of my daughters blood, we couldn't get him to stop freaking out, so I snapped his neck...When he came back like all vampires do, he was a human. He died soon after, I guess because he couldn't handle the shock of being human again, but...Yeah. It's the same as turning someone into a vampire."

"Well...I can't say I don't want to use this to my advantage in the future...Have you found out what you needed Dani?"

I stood. "One more thing...do you know why I can see ghosts?"

My mother shook her head. "I can honestly say I have no idea. I don't even know of anybody else that can see them, except maybe a witch...You should try asking whatever ghosts it is you're seeing; they might know." I nodded.

"You should really think about stopping into Mystic Falls sometime...It would be nice to be able to have you there."

My mother looked stunned. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with me?"

I shrugged. "Maybe I would if you actually were involved in my life again."

She nodded as Klaus and I turned for the door. He took my hand in his again as we left the house, and like before, I didn't remove it. With what just happened, I needed all the comfort I could get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, does this mean you're no longer angry at me?" I tore my eyes away from the dark sky above and looked beside me at Klaus.

We were laying on the roof of my mother's house, staring up at the nighttime sky. She had gone to stay with her boyfriend for the night to give Klaus and I some privacy, and we took advantage of it.

I discovered that I was a lot more daring when I was in emotional distress, and Klaus took full advantage of that as well.

"I'm still angry with you...but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy your company too."

He laughed. "Just this morning you didn't want to be in the same room as me, and now we're laying together like this...I'm afraid you've left even me quite confused."

"I just found out my blood is a cure for vampirism, and that my mom isn't the heartless bîtch my dad made her out to be...I think I'm more confused than you are." That reminded me of what Klaus had said earlier. I sat up and asked "What did you mean when you said you'd use this to your advantage?"

He sat up and responded. "Exactly what I said. You and I are the only ones that know this secret, and I intend to use it as a tool against vampires. If Damon or Tyler or anyone should try to desiccate or kill me again, I can simply threaten to turn them human."

Now I stood. "I don't want to be a part of your vengeance against the Salvatore brothers."

"You don't have to be. At the very least, I'll want to cure Elena, so that I may create more hybrids. I'm sure you won't deny me that." I sighed. "That's a good girl. Now how about we go inside?"

"You go in...I want a few minutes alone."

"Alright love." He stood and leaped quietly to the ground and went inside, and I sat on the roof again.

I couldn't enjoy it for very long though, because a whispered "Hey" almost made me roll off. I looked over and saw Alaric and nearly freaked out.

"What are you doing here?!" He laughed."What? It's not funny!"

"It kinda is...Anyway I heard what you found out and popped over here to see for myself. I really didn't expect to see you and Klaus all...together though."

"How much did you see?" He raised an eyebrow. "Oh god...If you tell anyone, I'll compel a priest to exorcise you or something." He laughed again.

"Relax, you're fine. But I suggest you get your new boyfriend there to compel Stefan to forget about the cure before he goes back to Mystic Falls."

"Why? And I thought he already went?" Alaric shook his head.

"He's in a little motel, and plans to follow you and Klaus around until you get back to Mystic Falls. I checked in on him while you and Klaus were...busy." I could feel my face grow red. "Klaus isn't the only one that will try to take advantage of you to cure his enemies. If Elena is threatened, Stefan won't hesitate to use you to help her, whether it means kidnapping you or not."

I gasped. "But I thought he was good?!"

"Usually, he is. But when it comes to Elena..." I nodded. Stefan would, and probably had, killed people for her. "You should send him now, before you both leave in the morning."

"Alright...Can you make sure he's still at the motel?" Alaric nodded and vanished from sight. I leaped down off the roof, landing not nearly as quietly as Klaus had, and entered the house again.

Klaus was in the kitchen, preparing himself some blood to drink from my mother's personal storage.

"Klaus, I just saw..."

"Your ghost friend Alaric, right?" I froze. "I could hear you muttering to yourself."

"Well, he told me to make sure you compel Stefan to forget about my blood being a cure."

"Yes, I figured that part out for myself, and I've already called Stefan over. He should be here soon. Give me your hand." I looked at him oddly. "Stefan is on vervain, and he can only be compelled if we both have your blood."

"How do you know that will work?" I knew the answer almost right after I asked.

"I was able to compel you on vervain. Same principle, right?" I unwittingly held out my arm and felt a small pinch at my wrist.

He let the blood drip into two glasses and I retracted my healing wrist, wiping it on a dish towel from the sink. "And if it doesn't work?"

"Then I'll break his neck and we'll find out if your mother was really telling the truth." I gasped and Klaus looked up at me from the glasses. "Love, I have no doubts that Stefan will try to use your blood to cure me if he gets the chance. And if he does that, there's no telling what would happen to the rest of the vampires in my bloodline. Do you really want to be responsible for that?"

I shook my head. "I guess not...But please try not to turn him human. If you do, Damon and Elena and who knows else are going to come after me..."

"Not if it works, which it will." I sighed again; Klaus was so sure of himself, but I was so sure something was going to go horribly wrong. I heard the sound of a car engine, and at the same time he said "Sounds like Stefan's here already."

I went out and opened the front door and saw Stefan getting out of Klaus' Jaguar."Why didn't you go back to Mystic Falls?"

"I wanted to be on hand, in case something went...wrong. Did it?"

I shrugged. "When doesn't it?" I turned and we both went through to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of orange juice from the fridge that my mother probably kept for her boyfriend. "Sorry, I'm not exactly in the mood for a bloody cocktail tonight gentleman." Klaus sniggered while Stefan barely smirked.

Stefan asked "So why am I here?"

"Because you didn't head home as I told you to, because you feel the need to be a superhero all the time." Stefan raised the glass to his lips, but didn't drink. "What? Think I poisoned it?"

"No, I'm just wondering how you knew I didn't leave." He drank from the cup mixed with my blood, and I immediately grew tense.

"Dani can talk to Alaric's ghost, remember? It seems he's grown fond of her, and does what she asks. I can't imagine what it would've been like had they met while he was still alive." Klaus was stalling, I knew it. He was enjoying the fact that he was going to be able to tell Stefan what to do.

"I figured. I'm still wondering why she's able to do that though..."

"Because her blood can do a great many things...Give someone great strength, turn them human, allow them to be compelled..."

Stefan threw down his cup, but Klaus was immediately before him, moving almost too fast for me to see. Klaus' hands held either side of Stefan's face and I turned away, not wanting to see the actual act occurring.

"Stefan, you'll forget about what Dani's mother told us. Forget every word of it, and you'll only remember that she didn't know anything. Dani's mother doesn't know anything, and her father was lying about bad things happening when a vampire drinks Dani's blood." Stefan nodded and Klaus released him, and he shook his head. "You don't look well Stefan."

"Yeah...I guess that's because we came all the way here for nothing...I mean, if her mom didn't know anything, why tell her dad that?" I stood up from where I'd been leaning against the counter and went into the living room.

Stefan followed me and asked "Are you okay?" I nodded.

"I just...want to get back to Mystic Falls. It turns out I didn't have to see my mother, so this was for nothing..." I wanted to punch myself for being the very convincing liar that I was. "Can we leave now?"

Klaus walked in and said "Sure. But I'd like Stefan to sit in the back, he's such a boring passenger." Stefan glared, but I wasn't in a good enough mood to laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She didn't know anything? Well, wasn't that a waste." I glared at Damon as he complained.

"You didn't even have to go, so shut up...My dad probably just didn't want me to be near you guys anymore, so that's why he said it." I'd had to tell this same lie to so many of them since yesterday, it barely bothered me. Now, it was the fact that I was getting used to it that bothered me, but everyone just thought I was sad about my mom.

"So what if I didn't go? You and your little 'issue' are getting in my way."

"My _issue?_ You think I chose to be like this? You think I want to be a victim to whatever vampire decides he wants to sap a little extra energy for himself?! You think I want to be here with _you?!"_ Damon looked taken aback, as did Stefan and Elena. "You don't ever think about anyone except for yourself. Stefan, all you care about is your little girlfriend, who happens to be in love with your brother, and you're blind to anything else!" It started out as an argument with Damon, but I was way too gone. "And you!"

I pointed at Elena and she looked confused.

"You're a stupid, selfish _bîtch_ that lets everyone else die for her and doesn't give a single thought!"

"What?" She stood. "You can't be serious. Of course I think about..."

"Think about what? Your parents? Your aunt Jenna? Alaric? All the people that had to die for some stupid little girl to have what she wants? If you didn't have Stefan and Damon to protect you, you would've died a long time ago." She took a step forward. "What? You're saying I'm wrong?"

"Of course! I do everything I can to help everyone!"

I could almost feel the rage burning me as I screamed "You don't do _ANYTHING!"_ I shoved Elena as hard as I could and she flew back against the wall, splintering the old wood surface. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had to leave Mystic Falls in the first place, and I sure as hêll wouldn't be in this situation! You brought all these vampires to this town!"

Elena slowly pulled herself to her feet and I ran upstairs. I threw as much of my clothes in my bag as could fit and sped out of the house without a single look at any of them. I knew Stefan and Damon were probably fawning over a distraught Elena, or contemplating if Klaus had turned me evil.

I wasn't evil, and it certainly wasn't by his hand. It was those haughty bâstârds that had been pestering me over every little decision I made since I arrived here over a month ago, and they were driving me insane.

I had tried to be friends with Stefan, and I still kind-of was, but I couldn't talk to him if Damon and Elena were going to be hovering over his shoulder every time I tried. Actually, I didn't mind Damon so much sometimes, but when it involved Elena...

I growled under my breath. Elena. She was the cause of _everything_ I was going through. Okay, maybe not the half-vampire part, but everything else was her fault. It was because of her that there were vampires in Mystic Falls at all, and werewolves, and hybrids, and it was because of her that Alaric was dead. I didn't hate him, but it was one more person that she'd unnecessarily killed.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked through the woods instead of down the long road. I headed in the opposite direction of town, trudging through the trees and undergrowth to an unknown destination. The multitude of leaves above my head dimmed the sunlight, making it look like sundown even though it was only three in the afternoon.

After a while, I almost wished I had Klaus' blood in my system, just so I could get away from Mystic Falls all the faster. I could run faster than a human as I was, but still not as fast as a vampire.

"Why? Why couldn't I have died or just turned into a full vampire, huh?" I looked up at the partially blocked-out sky, listening for answers. "You should've just killed me when I was born, or let that vampire that turned human kill me instead. Why let me live?!"

"You know, I think I said something before about talking to yourself..." I looked beside me and saw Alaric's ghost. I ignored him and kept moving through the trees. "Okay, you look pissed."

"I finally gave Elena and the Salvatore's a piece of my mind. They weren't exactly happy to hear the truth that everyone's been thinking."

"Everyone?" I looked incredulously at him.

"Really? I know dâmn well that you wouldn't have died if Elena was here. Am I correct?" He was silent and I smirked. "Exactly."

"So you told Elena off...and you decide to run away through the woods? Mind explaining that?"

I shrugged. "If I would've went through town, it would've been a helluva lot easier for them to follow and find me. How did you find me?" He shrugged.

"Beats me. I still don't even know why you can see me."

"You don't..? Dâmmit! My mother told me to ask you, because she didn't know why either..."

"Maybe you should contact some actual witch ghosts. It'll be easier out here in the woods, since it's all nature and stuff..." I chuckled a bit. "What?"

"You aren't very good at this ghost thing, are you? 'Nature stuff'?" I laughed again and he made a face. "Look, I don't even know how to contact a ghost on purpose...Plus I don't even have any witch magic! Can't you try something?"

"Maybe...Up ahead is the river and the waterfalls. Go there to wait for me."

"Why?"

"Witches take power from nature. At the river is water, plants, and you'll actually be able to see the sun. It'll be easier for another ghost to try to appear."

I nodded. "So maybe you don't suck at this as much as I thought you did..." Alaric made another face before disappearing from sight.

I continued on through the trees, and as promised, they started to get thinner. I could hear the rush of water, which grew louder and louder as I went ahead.

Eventually I came at the clearing that Alaric had been talking about. It was at the place where a big waterfall met up with the river, and I could see the setting sun off over the tops of the trees. It was all really pretty, as long as I didn't think about all the death and destruction that probably surrounded the place. If it was a part of Mystic Falls, there was definitely death and destruction in its history.

I noted that I must've been walking for a few hours, but I didn't feel the least bit tired. In fact, I felt better than I had before; probably because I was away from everyone and everything that was making me stress out.

I sat my bag on the ground and lounged against a large rock right beside the river. I kicked my sneakers and socks off and dipped my feet into the river, giggling and shivering at the cold temperature.

"You look better." I looked up at Alaric, unsurprised to see another ghostly figure with him.

"I'm all alone in the middle of the woods, away from the people trying to kill me, feed on me, or drive me insane...So yes, I'm feeling much better." I stood, pulled my shoes back on but taking off my hoodie. "So, to who am I talking this time? A witch?"

The dark-skinned woman answered "Yes. My name is Ayana, and your friend informed me that you need help with a vampire situation. I was...reluctant to come, but when he informed me of what you are..."

"You just had to see for yourself...Well, bear witness to the only half-vampire in the history of the world. I guess Alaric told you everything, so I'll just ask: is there anything you can do to help me?"

"Possibly...The vampire curse was not intended to be used on the not yet born, and that is why it has had unforeseen consequences for you. You seem to be permanently in transition. You have increased strength and speed, but lack the weakness to sunlight, desiccation, and invitation. You don't need to drink blood, but if you do, you gain the abilities of a full vampire for a short amount of time. Werewolf bites also do not affect you it seems, or you would have died the first time Niklaus fed on you."

"I know all of that...But what of the things my mother said? She told me that my blood could turn a vampire back into a human. What explanation is there for that?"

"Because it was not I that was responsible for your condition, I can only offer my insight. Vampire blood uses the magic that created it to turn people into more vampires. In your case, it is possible that because you're not fully a vampire, the magic in your blood will turn your victims into humans instead. It would most likely have little or no effect on a regular human, but it may affect a werewolf victim."

I stood and stared openly at the woman. She wasn't saying what I thought she was saying, was she?

"You're saying...I can cure werewolves too? And hybrids?" Ayana nodded. "That...that's impossible!"

"So it may seem, but it is the truth. You are not completely alive and not completely dead, instead stuck between more than any of us. That is also the reason why you are able to see ghosts, if you are still wondering about that."

"I wasn't...I was just thinking about how every supernatural creature is going to try to kill me or use me against all the others."

"While that may be true, you are able to defend yourself. With the drinking of immortal blood you take in strength, but that is not the full extent of your power. Should you take in the blood of many vampires, you will gain all their strengths, and be infinitely more powerful. And if you were to take the blood of a witch..."

"I'll turn into a witch for a while?"

"It is possible. Again, I am not sure because I was not responsible for your making, but it is a strong possibility. I suggest you converse with my descendant Bonnie about this issue."

"And what then?"

Ayana didn't answer, only fade away like I'd seen Alaric do so many times already.

"Well, wasn't that just helpful..." Alaric chuckled.

"You got what you needed, didn't you?"

"Oh, shut up you ghostly windbag." He laughed again as I gathered my things to go back.


	9. First Feeding

"Where's your brother? I need to talk to him."

"Nik? I believe he's gone out to look for you...I couldn't imagine why." I frowned at Rebekah's smug face; she was enjoying torturing me.

"Is Elijah here? I know he hasn't left town yet." She grimaced and I looked past her to see Elijah enter the main hall of the house. "Would you move aside now?"

"You little..." Rebekah looked like she wanted to hit me, but when Elijah came up, she quickly calmed down and sped away.

I sighed and said "Well, she certainly seemed pleased to see me...Klaus isn't here?" Elijah shook his head. "Where is he?"

"My sister wasn't lying when she said Niklaus had gone to search for you. He received word about your departure from the Salvatore house and left immediately."

"Then I'll have to call him...Do you mind if I come in?" I didn't need the invitation, but I didn't want to create any bad feelings between Elijah and I. He hadn't exactly been a friend to me, but he was the only one that hadn't tried to keep me for my blood. I trusted him more than Stefan at the moment.

I went in and sat on the large couch and quickly phoned Klaus. His phone hadn't even gotten done with the first ring before he answered with an exasperated "Dani?"

"Klaus...You don't have to look for me anymore, I'm at your house..." He was silent. "You're mad, aren't you?"

"At those Salvatore brothers more than I am at you. Why did you leave without telling me? I've been rampaging through these woods for the last hour to no success."

"I had to get out of there...They've been suspecting me of being evil ever since you took me prisoner, and they're driving me _insane..."_ I heard Klaus chuckle and restrained the urge to curse at him. "And I need to talk to you about something. Preferably immediately."

"What could be so bad that you disappeared into the forest for four hours without a single word to anyone? We've already discovered your big secret."

"Not all of them...While I was in the woods I talked to Alaric and another ghost...Ayana." There was a silence again. "Do you know her?"

"I didn't realize her spirit was still haunting the area...How pleasant. Yes, I do know Ayana. She was a prominent witch when I was still a human." I gasped. I didn't know Ayana was from _that_ long ago...

"Why would she only show herself to someone now?"

"Because of you, Dani. Look, I will be home in a matter of moments, and I expect you to be waiting in my room to tell me what Ayana has revealed to you. Can you refrain from running again until then?"

"Do you have no faith in me?" Klaus chuckled and I hung up. I looked up and saw Elijah was still in the room, and had undoubtedly heard the entire conversation. "Was she really from when you were human?"

He nodded. "My mother had originally wanted Ayana to be the one to turn us immortal, but when she refused, my mother turned us herself."

"And that's when it all went downhill, I guess...This is dangerous, isn't it? Something bad is going to happen..."

"Most likely...Whatever secret your blood holds, there will be fighting because of it." I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "Niklaus will be home shortly, so I will be leaving. I suggest you straighten out your feelings for him now, while you can. You may not get the chance to later." I looked at him questioningly.

"And why not? I may not be a full vampire but I sure as hêll can still take care of myself."

"That may not be enough. Niklaus had turned against his own siblings many times, and he may do the same to you. Even if he doesn't, there are still a great many that will want you dead now, and my brother may not be able to protect you from them all." Elijah disappeared, leaving me angry and exponentially more confused than before.

I pushed myself off the couch and went upstairs the Klaus' bedroom, at the same time that I heard the front door open again.

The bedroom door popped

open next to reveal Klaus' equally angry and anxious face. "My brother and sister were here?"

"Rebekah left when I got here, and Elijah left after I called you...He told me who Ayana was."

"Well, isn't that just wonderful...But that doesn't matter. What did she tell you?"

"Well, she said she wasn't sure, since she wasn't the one that turned me into a half-breed..." Klaus was suddenly in front of me, gripping my arms for dear life and staring heatedly into my eyes. It was a moment before I shook my head and said "Ayana told me there's more I can do."

Klaus sat beside me but didn't let go of my arms. "What?"

"She said I'm like this because the vampire curse was put on me before I was born...It's like I'm permanently stuck in transition. The magic that makes people into vampires does the opposite with me, since I was never fully turned into a vampire. Because of that...she said I might be able to cure werewolves and hybrids too." Klaus' eyes widened. "Since I'm technically half-dead, that's why I can see ghosts too. If I drink someone's blood I can gain their strength..."

"We knew that..." I held up a hand.

"Ayana said it may work if I drink a witch's blood too." Klaus let go of me and I rubbed at my arms. "Again, she said she wasn't sure, so I can't really tell you if it was real..."

"With her, it is undoubtedly real. Ayana has not made herself known for the last 1,100 years; she would not do so now without good reason."

"So I'm doomed...great." I plopped back on the plush bed and stared at the ceiling. "Either you're going to kill me or some other supernatural weirdo is gonna do it for you...I might as well commit suicide while I have the chance." Klaus lay beside me and take my hand in his. "That's not exactly comforting at the moment."

"Who says I'll kill you? I'll merely use your blood against those who would try to kill me...again." I raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I know who you are and how you are...You didn't hesitate to dagger your siblings or kill your own mother on multiple occasions."

"That may be true...But I also have an impeccable record of keeping my assets safe."

"Except here in Mystic Falls. Your siblings were released, one of them and your mother was killed, Elena was turned into a vampire, and you've nearly died yourself several times. Remind me of your impeccable record?"

Klaus was on me, holding me down with a smirk on his face. "Now, there's no need to point out all of my...setbacks. Of which I will be fixing at least one of them with your help."

I plucked one of his dark blonde facial hairs and said "And how are you so sure that I'll help you?"

His turquoise eyes swam as he said "I have faith...And I can always persuade you if I need to..."

"Persuade, or compel?" He grinned and I shivered slightly. "I'm not sure I like that look on you..."

"Why? Because you know I'll do this?" He kissed slowly at my neck and I held perfectly still, though my arms wanted to wrap themselves tightly around his neck. Against my skin, Klaus muttered "Or that I would do this..?" He tore the shirt from my back and I gasped at the quick breeze of cool air against my bare skin. "Or maybe..."

"Okay,okay, okay, I get the point...You could've done it with less violence against my clothes though." Klaus chuckled.

"That's nothing." He laid back and pulled me on top of him, and I heard a distinctive rip at the back of my jeans. A second later he pulled the torn denim remains from my legs and I buried my face in his chest. "Embarrassed, love?"

"I really wish you would stop doing that...I'm gonna have to buy a whole new wardrobe soon." Despite my embarrassment I laughed. "And no, I'm not going to let you buy it for me. If you have your way, I won't have anything to wear except tight little dresses and pajamas."

"And what's so wrong with showing a little skin every now and then?" He nibbled at my neck and I yelped and jerked away. "Ooh, someone's testy..."

"I'm not testy...I just know that showing skin around you means that skin's gonna get bit." He shrugged. "And you have no remorse...Must be fun."

"Oh, it is." He rolled us back over and I found my arms pinned at my sides. "But I'm not totally without feelings."

"Greed, anger, hatred...And lust? Those are all selfish feelings."

"Yes, but feelings all the same." As Klaus lowered his mouth to my neck again, he muttered "But lust is _definitely_ my favorite..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why does your sister hate me?" Klaus looked over as he pulled a pair of jeans up over his legs. "Every time I see her, she always acts so nasty..."

"Despite our disagreements, she's most likely jealous that you have more of my attention than she does. We traveled together for almost 1,000 years and I never paid more attention to anyone else. She's actually been like this for some time."

"Probably because you were raving about Stefan the Ripper and your hybrids, and then about Elena until she was turned into a vampire. Rebekah probably thinks you're ignoring her."

"Because I am. And when did you become so informed about my life?"

"I do pay attention, you know..." Klaus shrugged and turned to get a shirt. "And I don't know about your life, just the horrific things you've done recently. The other 1,100 years are a complete mystery to me."

"Well, wouldn't you just love to know about all that. Sorry to disappoint you Dani love, but it's actually pretty boring. Aside from a short 53 years when I temporarily went insane and almost breaking my hybrid curse with Katherine, killing and terrorizing were all I did."

"Who says I don't want to hear about killing and terrorizing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so I don't...Probably because I'm the only one in this town that hasn't killed a single person. No humans, vampires, werewolves, hybrids, witches, or hunters...I should be given some kind of medal by now." He laughed.

"Well, as long as we can keep the secret of your cure to ourselves, we might just be able to keep that record going a while longer. Along with not getting you killed, of course."

Klaus finished dressing and I asked "So...why aren't you worried about getting cured?" I tried to make it sound casual, but my heart was nearly pumping in my throat as I spoke the words. Ever since my mother told me about the cure, the thought about Klaus turning human had been festering in the back of my mind, despite my efforts to ignore it.

"Two reasons. One, do you know how impossible it would be for someone to kill me? There's only one way, and I have it locked up in my safe. Two, I'm not sure your mother told us the whole truth."

"What do you mean?"

"I can tell when someone is lying, regardless of if they're human or vampire. She wasn't lying about the cure, but she was about how it works. I have a feeling that simply killing a vampire after they drink your blood will really kill them instead of curing them."

I was bewildered. "Why would my mother lie to me?! I finally found her after so long..."

"You came to her door with me by your side. She probably thought you would want to cure me, and so she lied so you would actually kill me."

"What?! How could you say that!?" I jumped up and ran over to Klaus,pounding on his chest with my fists. It barely phased him, but he grabbed my wrists and held them at my sides. "She's my mother..."

"Who left you before you were even a week old. Sorry to tell you love, but you've just experienced your first family betrayal...If you stay by my side, you'd better get used to it." My face fell and he released my arms. "Now perk up, we're going into town."

"For what? All we're gonna do is probably grab a bunch of skimpy clothes for me, some liquor for you, and terrorize the local supernaturals..."

"And you're depressed, so maybe terrorizing the locals is just what you need. Come on, I'll even show you how to hunt and kill someone." I gasped. "Okay, you don't have to kill...But if you're so worried about people coming to kill you, you'll have to learn how to feed on humans. I can't be there to give you my blood all the time."

"I know that...I just don't think I'm quite _right_ to be feeding on anyone..." Klaus chuckled.

"You're beautiful and you don't take crâp from anyone, not even me. I'd say you're the perfect person." I shrugged and he put his arm around my shoulder. "Come, let's go feed before someone shows up to spoil our fun."

We went downstairs and Elijah was standing in the parlor, not looking surprised to see me. There was a tense moment as he and Klaus stared each other down, but Klaus quickly pulled me out the door and into his Jaguar.

"Wow...I thought you two were going to battle it out right there."

"I've already committed to teaching you how to hunt; I'm not going to spoil your good time by dealing with my brother's antics." I repressed a laugh; knowing Elijah, he would have said the exact same thing about Klaus. Plus it was funny to hear Klaus talking that way, knowing he was the one usually up to something shady.

He sped us into town with almost no heed to the road, but I wasn't worried. Elizabeth had the police doing so much of her supernatural dirty work, I'd learned, that there were almost none of them paying attention to traffic laws outside the main part of town.

We quickly made it into town and, not surprisingly, he drove us right up to the Mystic Grill. I was beginning to think this was the only place people ever hung out anymore. At least when I was a teenager, we sometimes hung out in the woods or went to the next town over.

I headed to the door but Klaus stopped me. "What?"

"Just giving you a few tips. Looking as ravishing as you do, someone will probably try to pick you up. If he does, you take him in the bathroom or in the alley over there and drain him. I'm assuming you know how to flirt with a man?"

Even though it was for the purpose of hunting a victim, I felt offended that Klaus actually asked that question. I kept myself from slapping him and said "Just because I didn't sleep with anyone before you, doesn't mean I didn't know how to charm a guy. I thought you had more faith in me."

"You were compelled when we slept together, how am I to know the truth?"

This time I did slap him, but he just laughed. "You're an âss, you know that?"

Reaching under the hem of the knee-length dress I wore, Klaus grabbed mine and said "Why don't you go and work yours, and find us some food?"

I turned and almost stomped in the front door of the place, not looking back once until I made it to the bar. The bartender poured me a drink without my asking, and I knew I had been there way too many times since I'd come back.

As I sipped at the glass of apple-flavored liquor, which I had come to love after finding it in Klaus' stash, I looked around at the people already here. There was none of the usual gang inside, which meant it would be safer for me to try to feed on someone. I saw Klaus walk in the door and look my way, and I took my drink and went over to the pool table.

It was empty, so I grabbed a cue stick and set up a game. As I expected, he came over and stood to the side as I did this.

"Aren't going to play a game with me?"

"If you're going to lure a nubile young man into leaving here with you, it wouldn't be a good idea, now would it?" I shrugged and leaned over to shoot the first shot, and could almost feel Klaus' eyes on me. "If I simply stand here to the side and watch, no harm is done."

"Well, lucky for me then..." I hit and the cue struck the rest of the balls, scattering them everywhere. None went in and I said "Now it's really good that I'm playing by myself, or I'd have to let you have a turn."

"Oh, I'm enjoying myself perfectly well standing right here." I giggled and lined up the next shot.

"You know, with you hovering and staring every time I bend over, I fear I'm not doing a very good job of luring anyone."

"What a shame...I guess I'll just have to compel someone. Be right back." He sat his drink down and I snatched it up, and he walked away laughing.

I sipped and sat it beside mine and continued playing. It was a rare time now that I could just do something without someone bothering me, and I felt oddly at peace. Even after Matt came over and I almost hit him with the pool cue out of shock.

"Matt...what are you doing here?!"

"I work here, remember?" I nodded slowly, lips pursed. In my excitement/anxiety to feed on someone for the first time, I had forgotten.

"Of course I remember...I just didn't know you were working today. Though you look like you're about to go home..." He wore a dark jacket over his uniform shirt and had his truck keys in hand. "Oh, I shouldn't bug you."

"It's okay, it's not like there's anything waiting for me at home anyway. Mind if I join?"

After another little moment of shock, I nodded and said "Yeah...I'll set up a new game." I proceeded to re-rack the balls and let Matt go first. As he did, I spotted Klaus over by the bar, watching and undoubtedly listening. When he nodded, my heart skipped a beat, and I knew he wanted me to feed on Matt.

But could I? I argued back and forth in my mind as it was my turn and then his again, and I couldn't come to a decision. If I didn't do it, Klaus would either find someone else in here or compel Matt to let me, or just compel me. If I did do it, Matt might hate me, and then I'd lose another friend...Matt was one of the few I hadn't stopped speaking to, unlike Stefan.

After a while I said "How 'bout we go outside? It's a little crowded in here."

"Okay, sure." He grabbed his drink and we went outside, Klaus' eyes on us the whole time. As soon as we were outside, I pulled him around the side of the building and he nearly shouted "What the hêll..?! Dani!"

"I'm sorry...I don't know if you saw him, but Klaus is in there, he brought me here to feed on someone..." He was about to say something but I held up my hand. In a whisper voice I said "I was supposed to bring someone out here and feed on them and let them go...But then you started playing pool with me and now he wants..."

"Klaus wants you to feed on me." I nodded. "So basically it's either me or some random person in there that he'll probably kill?" I nodded again.

"There's some...stuff going on that nobody but me and him knows about, and he says I have to be prepared to feed on people if I have to."

"What kind of stuff?" When I didn't say anything, Matt grabbed me by the arms and said "What kind of stuff?!"

"I...can't tell you...At least not here. It's the reason I left Stefan's house and why I can't talk to any of the group..." I sighed and looked at the ground. Saying all of that aloud made me feel even more pitiful. "You can go, I'll just tell him I couldn't do it..."

"No, it's okay." My head snapped up and I stared Matt in the face. "If things are as bad as you say...then you really do need to start feeding on people."

"So...are you telling me what I think you're telling me?" He nodded.

"But only if you tell me why you're in so much danger now. I'm not gonna help you, or especially Klaus, unless there's a dâmn good reason."

I nodded and Matt leaned his head to the side, and the big vein in his neck stuck out. I could hear the blood rushing through his veins and his heartbeat in his chest, which picked up rhythm as I put my hands on his shoulders.

I heard him inhale sharply as I sunk my teeth into his neck, and as soon as his warm blood touched my tongue, I almost lost it.

I say almost, because it wasn't as good as Klaus' blood was, so I was able to just take a mouthful or two and let go without hurting him. I wiped vigorously at my mouth until I was sure the blood was gone and looked up at Matt.

He didn't really have an expression, and it made me worried. "Did I take too much? Are you okay?" He nodded and I exhaled heavily.

"Yeah...It's just that it's still a surprise to know you're half a vampire when I was the first one to meet you when you moved back. I guess it didn't sink in or something..." I bit my lip.

"Are you sure you're okay? I can go grab a rag or something from inside..." Matt shook his head. "Sure?"

"Yeah,you barely nicked me; I'll be fine..." I looked at the wound and saw he was right. The punctures were tiny, probably because I was afraid to hurt him and didn't bite very hard. "I don't wanna make this a daily thing..."

"Neither do I..."

"But if you're in trouble and don't have any blood on hand..." I took a step back. "Hey, I'm just saying; I'll help you."

"I'm not offended or anything just...surprised. I thought you hated vampires, is all..." He shrugged and I turned to watch as he went to his truck in the parking lot. "That better be enough, 'cause I'm not attacking anyone else tonight..."

I went inside and found my drink still sitting by the pool table, and Klaus was finishing me and Matt's game. When I approached he stood and asked "Everything go well with the human?"

"Yeah...I fed, are you happy?" He grinned, which I took as a yes.

"Certainly, though you don't look so happy to have fed. And it seems you made a bit of a mess..." I looked at Klaus oddly until he stepped to me and wiped a drop of blood from my chin that I'd missed. "Mess or no, you didn't kill him, which I guess is a success in your book. I'm surprised you were able to control yourself."

"Yeah, me too..." He raised a questioning eyebrow. "It's going to sound insane."

"1,100 years as a vampire, remember? I think I've seen more insane things than you have."

My face grew dark red as I forced out "His blood didn't taste as good as yours does..." Klaus chuckled and I blushed even more. "It's not funny!"

"Love, I'm not laughing at that, I'm laughing because you were afraid to tell me. I've fed so much, I know there's differences in how blood can taste. I'm flattered that you prefer my blood over a human's, and I return the favor by saying that your blood tastes better than anyone I can remember having as well."

I mumbled nervously and he chuckled again. "Can we just go home now? I fed like you wanted me to, and now I'd just like to take a relaxing bath..."

"Yes, a bath does sound good right about now..."


	10. Revelations

I knocked softly on Klaus' bedroom door, though there was really no reason to. He and I were the only ones in the house, and he would've heard me come upstairs. Nonetheless, I stood and waited until he came to the door and opened it.

"Dani? Since when have you politely waited at my door?"

"I need to tell you something." He waited silently. "I've invited the human, Matt, here to tell him about the cure."

There was a moment's hesitation before he asked "Why?"

"Matt doesn't agree with what Stefan and the others have been saying about me, and he's more trustworthy then them, and it might help to have a regular human work with us..." I sighed; this was the part I knew Klaus probably wouldn't like. "...And I really need someone to talk to every now and again."

"And I don't have ears or a mouth?" I looked up at his unshaven face and saw his turquoise eyes burning. I'd made him angry. "You've come to me with your troubles before, when Ayana appeared to you."

"Yeah, I know...But I need someone _human_ to talk to. I lived the first 20 years of my life thinking I was a normal human, and I still have normal human problems...Plus you being an evil immortal creature with a limited amount of feelings kind-of makes it hard for you to understand some things..." His eyes darkened and I swallowed audibly; I had a terrible fear that I was going to regret telling Klaus anything.

"So you'd rather go to this human than me, who's been taking care of you more than anyone else in this town...I see."

"Wait, I didn't..!" Before I could finish, the door slammed and the gust of air blew my hair back from my face. "...mean it like that...Dâmmît!" I knew it was likely to happen, but it still hurt to have him slam his door in my face like that. It was like a

complete rejection, which I'd had enough of in the last week to last me for a lifetime. Perhaps even two.

I made my way downstairs and could hear gravel crunching in the driveway, not surprised to see Matt's truck already pulling up. When I called, he was eager to learn the secret I was holding. I didn't know if he'd be so eager once he learned what it actually was, though.

I went outside and pulled the front door shut behind me as Matt jumped out of his truck. "We have to talk out here...It's safer for you."

"Okay...So about that secret..."

I leaned heavily against one of the porch columns. "I know you're not gonna like what I'm gonna say...And there's a few rules."

"Like..?"

"Well, there's really only one. You can't tell anybody. Not Stefan, Elena, Jeremy, Bonnie, Damon, _anybody._ Got it?" He nodded. "Good, because if you do, they might just try to kill me." He raised an eyebrow.

"Kill you? I know you've been sleeping with the enemy, but that doesn't sound like them..." I grumbled at his phrasing, but kept myself from retorting harshly.

"You know me, Klaus, and Stefan went to see my mother in Lexington...and Stefan told you we didn't find anything out." He nodded. "That wasn't true. I had Klaus compel Stefan to forget what my mother told us."

"What?! Why?" I held up a finger, listening to see if Klaus was coming downstairs. When I didn't hear anything, I continued.

"My mother told me a story about when she had me...There was a vampire there that tried to steal my blood, but something happened when he drank it...and he turned into a human again."

"What..?" I sighed.

"My blood turned a vampire back into a human. It's a cure for vampirism...and lycanthropy." At Matt's confused look I said "I can cure werewolves too. And hybrids."

"You can...cure people? Anybody?"

"That's the gist of it, yeah..." He suddenly looked much more excited.

"That's great! Stefan and Damon have been having a bunch of problems because Elena is a vampire, and there's Tyler, he's been having a lot of problems too...Can't you cure Klaus and his siblings too? So they can't be problems to us anymore?" I suddenly felt grim, knowing I was going to have to quash his gush of joy.

I shook my head and slowly said "I can't do any of those things..." He looked confused. "This has to stay a secret, remember? If Stefan and them find out, they'll try to use me against Klaus. If anyone else finds out...It'll be an all-out war. Do you know how many vampires and werewolves there are out there? They'll all start swarming Mystic Falls to find me and use me against their enemies. I'm not going to be responsible for that."

"But...they might really need your help. At least Elena..." I shook my head and Matt's face fell. "What's the point of telling me if we can't even help anyone?"

"Later maybe, but I can't do anything right now...Especially when I don't even know everything about _how_ my blood turns someone human. What if I try to cure someone and I end up killing them?"

"Yeah, but..." I sighed and moved back towards the door.

"Is it so bad that I wanted to talk to you? I haven't been able to talk to anyone since I had Klaus compel Stefan, and you've still been a friend to me since then...If this is too much for us to be friends, oh well. If you still wanna be friends...I'll still be here." I quickly stepped inside and shut the door behind me.

I peeked through the window curtain and watched as Matt stood stunned for several moments before finally getting back in his truck and leaving. I was unsurprised to hear footsteps behind me and Klaus' voice ask "So, was that little venture worth it?"

"No, not even close...But it was worth a try. At least I got to talk to someone..." I turned to go but his hand closed around my wrist. I looked up and his face was surprisingly close and I was almost frozen in his turquoise gaze.

"I told you love, you can always talk to me."

"You don't listen...You can't. Unless it's something about you or something you want..." I slowly lost my focus as I stared into his swimming eyes and forgot what I was going to say.

"You're someone I have, so of course I'll listen to whatever you have to say." I didn't miss that he said someone instead of something like he usually did, but I was still too unfocused to from words. "I keep telling you that you can trust me, but you never listen."

I closed my eyes for a moment so I could say "You seem to forget you kidnapped me...Twice." I inhaled heavily and kept my eyes closed as best as I could. "You haven't given me any reasons to really trust you..."

"Haven't I?" I felt his hand caressing my face and my eyes snapped open again. "I've taken care of you and given you everything that you need, as I have since you arrived here. You may not have been able to see it, but me taking you was the best thing that could have happened. Would you rather it was Damon that discovered the secret of your blood?"

I couldn't stop myself from shuddering and Klaus chuckled. "Even so...how can I trust you to protect me when everything comes crashing down? Because you know it will."

Klaus nodded. "As everything does. I will be standing by you then as I have these last months, I assure you. What can I do to make you believe it?"

I wanted with all my heart to believe that Klaus was being sincere, that he wasn't just trying to make me stay so he could use me. He hadn't asked to use my blood against someone yet, and that had surprised me, but it still wasn't enough to make me fully trust him. But now he was giving me a choice.

But what kind of choice? He was asking what he could do, but what _would_ he do? What was the extent that he would go to prove his loyalty to me?

"I want you to..." I stopped myself before the words could escape from my mouth. I almost said _I want you to be human again,_ but I knew he would never agree to that. No matter how strong our bond, no matter -and I hated to admit it- how much I loved him, he would never turn into a human for me.

"What it is, love?"

I could feel tears forming at the corners of my eyes as I forced out "I want you to...love me." The tears spilled and a sob escaped my chest. "I don't know when, I don't know why...I just..."

"Fell in love?" I nodded, but couldn't bring myself to raise my head and look him in the face. I was too ashamed by my admission, and about the one I hadn't spoken aloud. "Dani...who says I haven't already?"

Klaus lifted my face with just the tips of his fingers and pressed his lips softly to mine. It was different than our other kissed; I could feel something more than just his lust and desire behind it. I didn't want to say it was love...

But that's what it felt like.

I pulled back and hurriedly asked "Really? You're not just doing this so you can use me?"

"I never thought I'd live to see the day, but..."

I didn't give him time to answer; I jumped up into Klaus' arms and kissed him full on the mouth, wrapping my arms around his neck and throwing everything I had into it. His arms twisted around my waist and he got down onto the floor without breaking the kiss and started to tear off my clothes, and this time I didn't mind.

I summoned my strength and pushed him down onto the floor and he froze, and I started tearing his clothes off too.

We wrestled back and forth like that until he held me down and took me right there on the living room floor, not caring who or what walked through the front door and saw us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Klaus' PointOfView)**

I couldn't tell anyone why I said it, not even Dani. As soon as she admitted she was in love with me, the words came spilling from my mouth and I admitted that I loved her as well.

I hadn't intended to say it, hadn't even wanted to say it. But the way she made me feel...

I pulled Dani closer to me in the darkness of the parlor and fixed my jacket that was draped over our bodies. We lay together on the floor, as we had since our mutual admissions of love several hours earlier.

I'd had the feeling that Dani had wanted to tell me something else, something besides loving her; I was far too in love with her already, I realized. I didn't ask her what that other thing was though. I knew she was afraid to tell me, and it would be best to let her tell me on her own.

I groaned. When did I ever become so considerate of others? I was losing it!

Dani murmured and shifted at my side and I worriedly whispered "Did I wake you?"

"No...I never went to sleep." She looked up at me with the most beautiful blue eyes and I had the urge to take her again right then. "I thought you were asleep, that's why I didn't get up..."

"I was watching you fake sleep...And I just thought that with the way the moonlight shines on your skin and hair, you look so beautiful...yet ethereal, almost like a ghost."

"Ghosts...I think I've had enough of them to last me a lifetime." Dani suddenly looked up towards the wall and said "But it seems they haven't had enough of me..."

"What is it?" She continued looking up at that spot on the wall and I realized she was probably seeing a ghost right now. "Who is it?"

"Alaric...How long have you been there?" There was a moment before she said "I know you might not agree with my choice, but I've already made it...Really?"

Dani looked at me once again before saying "Are you sure that's the best idea?"

I sat up and pulled her with me and asked "What is he saying?"

"He wants to speak with you." I looked at her questioningly, then at the empty space where her eyes kept straying to.

"I'll do it." Dani looked surprised. "If it's something you want, I'll do it...I said I would do anything to earn your trust, and I intend to keep that promise."

"Okay..."

Dani put her hand on either side of my face and my vision of the dark parlor of my mansion disappeared; now it was daylight and Dani had disappeared, and Alaric was standing across the room from me. I was still nude, but I made no move to cover myself. I stood and faced the deceased man who had tried to kill me on a number of occasions.

"I'm not even going to ask how Dani sent me here..."

"She's just making you see what she sees; she's making you see me."

"And I'm in this parallel world why?"

"You've been bothering Dani ever since she came to Mystic Falls..."

"If you had listened correctly Ric, you would know that I've been protecting Dani. Her recent confession of love can allude to that." He seemed stunned. "So it seems you weren't hovering around for that part of our conversation, then."

"If Dani told you she loves you, then you dâmn well better be taking good care of her. If I find you caused her even the littlest amount of pain..." I didn't bother stopping the laughter that came next.

After taking joy in the way Alaric's face twisted, I said "What will you do? You're dead and you haven't got a shred of power you can use against me. My mother may have made you stronger than me while you were alive, but that's all gone now."

"You'd be surprised at who is willing to help me now." Beside Alaric, the air shimmered and a dark-skinned woman materialized that I recognized immediately.

"You don't show your face for 1,100 years and now you can't stop? It isn't like you Ayana." She made no show of emotion. "What is this about? I assume it isn't to scold me for loving Dani."

Ayana spoke. "You must take care of her. She may seem strong, but she is still a child in many ways. She depends on you for more than you know, Niklaus."

"I'm not an idiot, Ayana. I was once human, and I know how to take care of one. You should remember, right?" She grimaced.

"This is not a joking matter, Niklaus. She has more power than either of you know, and if she were to lose control, it could mean the end of you, and not as a vampire. Dani may unintentionally transform you back into a human if you are not careful."

"How? We aren't even sure how she turned a vampire back when she was born."

"You told Dani her blood would kill a vampire, and that was not a lie." I grumbled; I had hoped that wasn't actually the truth. That meant I was more vulnerable to truly dying. "Only Dani can unlock her ability to cure supernatural creatures, but it is you who holds the key. You must coach her and allow her to grow out of her childish mindset if you ever wish to become human on your own terms."

"What? I don't intend to become human! Why would I ever choose to become a weak creature that can barely defend itself..."

"Dani wished you to become human. She may even wish the she herself would become human, so she no longer has to suffer the curse of being a half-breed. Think about that when you consider what the effects of her power will have on your life from now on."

"What do you mean? Nobody knows of Dani's power..." That wasn't true. "The human, Matt. He spoke of Dani's secret to someone, didn't he?"

Alaric stepped in as Ayana dissolved away. "That's why I came here. I was watching the Salvatore house when Matt showed up, and Damon compelled him to say everything that Dani told him. They know you compelled Stefan and they know what Dani's blood can do."

**"No!** They aren't going to take her from me!"

I shouted and was suddenly pushed out of the bright parlor back to reality, and found myself face-to-face with Dani in the darkness once again. I wasted no time in pulling her to her feet and taking her upstairs.

"Klaus..!" I set her down and went to the closet. "What the hêll?! What did he say to you?"

"You couldn't hear?" Dani shook her head. "He and Ayana were both there, and felt it necessary to deliver quite disturbing news." As I spoke I pulled out clothes for both Dani and I. "It seems that your friend Matt went to the Salvatore house some time after he left here, and Damon compelled him to reveal everything you two had talked about." Dani gasped.

"What?! That...I can't believe he did that!"

"It's Damon, love, you should've expected it. Come, get dressed."

"Where are we going?" I tossed her clothes and retrieved a bag to put more in. "Klaus!"

"The Salvatores have undoubtedly told their friends about your gifts, and they will soon be coming to steal you away from me. I won't let that happen now or ever." I quickly dressed and filled our bags with as much as they could hold before speeding downstairs and loading them into my car. When I went back, Dani was sitting on the bed looking stunned. "Dani! Get whatever you want to bring along that will fit in the car and take it downstairs. We're leaving right now."

Dani stood and simply grabbed her phone before slowly making her way outside.

I knew it would be hard for her to leave Mystic Falls again, and not just because I was here. She had made a friend with the human Matt and against my wishes, with my elder brother. She was finally learning to live in our supernatural world and now I was uprooting her again...

Dâmmît! This was exactly what I wasn't supposed to do; upset Dani. Now she was more upset than ever.

She said nothing when I joined her in my car, and I tried to console her. "We don't have to stay away forever...We just have to go somewhere they will not find you, so I have time to make sure Stefan and Damon will not hunt you if you return. Is there anywhere you wish to go? With your mother?" I knew it would be dangerous to have Dani go there, but I didn't want to upset her further by forcing her anywhere.

"I just want to get away from here...And I don't mean to some place where I'll have to stay inside 23 hours a day. I want somewhere I can walk around and have _freedom..."_

"I have just the place...Ever been to Florida?" Dani shook her head. "Fantastic. I have a house on the beach there you will absolutely love. It's protected by magic, so you can walk around all you wish without fear. Does that sound good?"

"Yes..." I went to start the car but she stopped me. "You promise not to tell Rebekah where we're going?"

"Love, I know what I'm doing. I remained hidden from the time I was turned until I killed Mikael, and it is no trouble to do it again."

"Whatever you say..." Dani put her hands in her lap and looked out the window, and didn't speak another word.


	11. Almost Paradise

I stepped out onto the white sand and looked out towards the perfectly blue water, and then up at the equally perfect blue sky, which was without a single cloud. If I'd been human, the hot sand and sun would probably be burning me, but they just felt amazingly warm on my cold skin.

I unbuttoned my modest bikini cover-up to reveal the tiny black halter bikini that Klaus felt the need to buy on the way down here for $500. I didn't see the appeal of paying so much for what was basically two scraps of fabric, but he wanted desperately to see me in it, so I had no objections.

That, and our departure from Mystic Falls didn't leave me with enough willpower to fight. We'd arrived here in an almost deserted part of Florida, which I didn't think was possible, almost three days ago and Klaus had left again immediately to go back to Mystic Falls. He'd left the car and there was a witch that stayed at the house during the day to take care of it. I suspected he had her compelled.

I sped right out to the cool blue water and didn't hesitate to immerse myself completely. The water was warmer than I'd expected, and in this area was almost salt-free. I swam far out, far enough that the small waves breaking on the shore didn't disturb me at all, and laid back on top of the water.

I closed my eyes and it almost felt like I was being rocked to sleep. It was a wonderful experience that I'd never had. When I'd lived in Richmond I was only two hours from Virginia Beach, but I never wanted to go. I'd always been too self-conscious.

Now, not only was there nobody around, but I honestly didn't give a dâmn anymore. If they saw me, they saw me; I would dress and behave how I wanted.

That thought reminded me of something Klaus had said before, about me becoming more like him. Now I really was, what with not caring about anything and leaving everyone.

"Miss Taylor!" I looked towards the shore to see Klaus' witch standing there. "Klaus is on the phone!"

I quickly flipped onto my stomach and paddled to shore. I took the phone and said "Thanks..."

"Katie. Shall I prepare you something to eat?" I nodded and she hurried inside.

I put the phone to my ear and said "I didn't realize your witch was also your maid."

"She had multiple purposes. I saved her family from a vengeful vampire in exchange for her services." So he didn't compel her.

"Well, isn't that just lovely...Are you still in Mystic Falls?"

"No, I'm on my way there right now." My heart nearly jumped to my throat. "As a matter of fact, I should be arriving quite shortly. I hope you haven't run amok in my absence, Dani."

"I've either stayed in the house or gone out on your private little beach...Except once I ran to the

store while your witch Katie wasn't here. Apparently I'm some kind of hot commodity here as well as Virginia." I heard Klaus grumble.

"If anyone did anything to you..." I resisted giggling at his childish jealously.

"Nobody did anything, and I didn't see any vampires either...How long will it take for you to get here? I need to know you're safe..." Despite my calm demeanor, my stomach had been tying itself in knots the entire time he was gone. He was without me in Mystic Falls, and it couldn't bring anything but trouble.

"I'm talking to you right now, aren't I? I will get there in a few minutes and we can hug and kiss and do all those naughty things I know you've come to love. I even have a small surprise for you."

"Then hurry and get here already..!" Klaus chuckled at my whiny tone. "Please?"

"Alright love, I'll hurry. Be waiting on the porch for me." He hung up and I retrieved my cover-up and went back inside. Katie was in the kitchen making something on the stove so I just went right onto the big porch to wait for Klaus. I didn't bother getting dressed, because I knew he'd want to see me in the bikini since he couldn't before he left.

Katie stuck her head out to let me know she was making gumbo, some recipe that her family from Louisiana handed down. I nodded and she went back inside and I started to pace the porch, anxious that Klaus wasn't back yet.

And what surprise was he talking about? He'd brought me to a private beach house with someone to attend to all my needs; what else could there be?

Not 10 minutes later, right before I would've started to pace a hole in the floor, I saw the glint of a silver sportscar kicking up sand in the distance. I stepped off the porch onto the pathway and ran onto the sand-covered road, waving my hands in the air.

I could see Klaus grinning as he pulled up in front of me, and I nearly jumped on him when he got out.

"Whoa...Someone seems excited."

I hugged him tightly and said "Because you didn't die in that god-forsaken town...And you come back in this!"

He laughed. "I would have been back last night, but I had to have this car...I happen to be an avid fan of the James Bond films, you know." I pulled back, grinning.

"Who's your favorite?"

"Daniel Craig, but Sean Connery after that."

"Well, I guess those Scots certainly have something going for them..." I laughed as he made a face. "Was this the surprise?"

"Not entirely, no." Klaus let me go to reach into the open window and handed me a small wooden box that had a bit of weight to it. "This is your surprise. You might want to sit down to open it."

I scoffed. "Nothing is that amazing that I'd pass out...Trust me." Klaus simply smirked as I unlatched the box.

I had to blink back tears as the sun flashed in my eyes, and I could see the _enormous_ diamond ring that glittered within the box. I stared at it, unable to comprehend what was going on.

"Dani, you must remember to breathe..." I looked at Klaus oddly until I realized I'd been holding my breath.

I sucked in a jagged breath and asked "What...is this?"

"I believe it's known as an engagement ring. Unlike the car, I simply compelled the employee of the store to bring it out to me engraved and gift-boxed..." I lifted it out of the box and looked inside the platinum band.

It simply said _Niklaus_ in a neat, fancy cursive, but the gesture made me sob.

I managed to force out "This is...an...engagement ring? You...you want to..." I couldn't even finish.

I nearly fell to my knees crying but Klaus caught me and hoisted me up into his arms. As he carried me inside he said "I said you should've sat down."

"But...I didn't know you were going to propose! Is that what this is? Are you proposing?!" I couldn't keep the panic from making my voice all high-pitched and screechy, but then I remembered to take another deep breath and it went back to normal.

"Yes love, I'd have to say I am." Klaus sat me down on the wicker chair in the parlor and gently pried the ring from my fist. "But I think I should do it properly." He knelt down and held both my trembling hands as he spoke. "Dani Taylor...Despite my best efforts, I have fallen madly, passionately in love with you over these last few weeks together...And I would love to know if you would have the pleasure of becoming my wife."

"Oh my god...oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..." I couldn't manage to say anything else, but I hoped dearly that he got the mental _yes_ I was trying to send him.

He simply laughed and put the enormous ring on my finger as I continued babbling. "Glad to know you're excited. You incoherently babbling is a yes, right?"

I launched myself at Klaus, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck as I pressed my lips to his.

"Yes! Yes, yes yes yes yes!" I kissed him again and again, all over his face and any area of his head I could reach, and he laughed. "Oh my god I love you so much..!" I stopped momentarily as I realized that was the first time I really said it aloud, but then went right back to violently kissing and hugging him.

I did stop again once I exclaimed "Oh! I know what could make this moment even more perfect!" He looked at me questioningly. "Give me your phone."

He took it out and I went to the camera. I held my left hand up beside Klaus' face and he smiled, and I snapped a perfect picture. I immediately sent it to Stefan's phone with a few choice words attached.

"That should hold them down for awhile...Oh! You never told me how it went!"

"You never gave me the chance, not that I mind. Stefan insisted that I bring you back so they can use the cure on Elena, and he wanted me to remove my compulsion on him. I didn't, of course. They threatened to desiccate me and lock me in the cellar again, but rescinded that particular threat when I reminded them that I was the only one that knew of your whereabouts."

"Way to work the enemy...How did Rebekah take the news that you're disappearing with me?"

"She lost it, and called you a few undesirable names...She's lucky Stefan still has those daggers hidden..." His face darkened along with his voice on that last part, and I stroked his cheek reassuringly.

"Don't worry, her names can't do any damage to us here. None of them can. It's just me and you..." Katie had left just before Klaus made his proposal, thankfully. I didn't want her to be around for any of this. "We can stay here as long as we want or we can travel the world, and there's not a dâmn thing anyone in Mystic Falls can do about it."

Klaus seemed to like that idea, because his demeanor lightened and he grinned once again.

"What do you say to getting married in Notre Dame? Perhaps we can honeymoon in Spain or Italy or Germany or just go everywhere. Oh, I hear Iceland is wonderful in the springtime." I giggled.

"We can go everywhere...but not before we make a stop in Mystic Falls first." He raised an eyebrow. "I think I'm becoming you in the facet that I _really_ want to rub this ring in their faces...literally. It's diamond, so I'm sure it can do some damage, even to a vampire..."

"Alright, we'll make our stop. When would you like to go?"

"Tomorrow morning. I still have some things I didn't manage to grab, and I won't have your sister trying to steal them...I happen to be very territorial about my things."

"I've noticed all of you women are...I don't know if that's a gender thing..." I smacked Klaus' arm and he laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Klaus' PointOfView)**

Dani stood straight as we exited my car and stood before the Salvatore house. She looked uncomfortable, but I took her by the hand and we went up to the front door.

She surprised me by kicking it open and saying "Knock knock, anybody home?"

"Well, I didn't expect that...Remind me of when you became my female version?" She rolled her eyes and we entered the house. Stefan was in the parlor with Tyler and Jeremy, and they all froze when Dani kicked the door in and we entered. "Well, isn't it nice to see my three least favorite people gathered together here. Though there seems to be one missing..."

Stefan stepped forward and said "What are you doing here?"

"You asked for Dani and I'm only complying with your wishes...Dani darling, why don't you tell Stefan why we're here?" She stepped forward with a devious smile.

"We've come to get the rest of our things from the mansion, and to tell you all we've decided to have the wedding in Paris." Tyler and Jeremy's jaws dropped, which meant Stefan hadn't told them about the picture Dani had sent him. "Stefan didn't tell you? Klaus and I are to be getting married soon."

She held up her hand and showed the ring off like a trophy, and I felt incredibly proud. I was finally helping her to grow out of the childishness she'd had when she first returned to Mystic Falls. She was learning how to handle things on her own.

I took Dani's raised hand and said "We'll be downtown having some celebratory drinks before we leave for the airport. Feel free to join us."

We turned and exited the house and Dani asked "Are you sure it was smart to say that? They may try to attack you in public."

"I have this handled...I still have several of my hybrids left that they don't know about, and I intend to put them to use."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Dani's PointOfView)**

I was beginning to think Klaus' open invitation was too big of a risk for him. Not long after we arrived, so did Caroline, Elena and Bonnie. Just a little after them Stefan, Jeremy, and Tyler showed up from the house. I guess word must have gone further than them, because Elijah and Rebekah came as well. Matt was busing tables, openly trying to avoid coming to the bar where Klaus and I sat, but I didn't see Klaus' hybrids anywhere.

I tugged his sleeve and asked "I though you said _they_ were going to be here?"

"Oh, they are. I won't have them announce their presence until absolutely necessary though..." Klaus looked past me towards the front door. "And it seems it is immediately necessary."

I turned and looked and saw an unfamiliar face making his way to us. The others were stunned when they saw him as well.

"Who is he?"

The man got to us, and he and Klaus stared darkly at each other. This new person had brown hair and brown eyes and was about the same height as Klaus.

When Klaus didn't answer me, the new man stuck out his left hand and said "Kol Mikaelson...Klaus here is my older brother." I tentatively shook his hand, and he studied my ring. "So it is true. My brother has not only found the only other half-breed besides himself, but he's managed to fall in love with her. How pitiful."

I jerked my hand away and said "If you're going to be like that, than you can leave. My fiancé and I are enjoying our last day here in the states before we leave for Paris, and we don't wish to be interrupted."

"Well frankly, I don't give a dâmn." Kol was purposefully making a scene, attempting to embarrass me. "You, my brother, and your sham of a marriage can all go rot for all I care. I've only come for one reason, miss half-breed."

I didn't back down from his threat. Klaus compelled the bartender to go in back, probably knowing what was coming next. "You've come to find out what I can do, and to see if I'm a threat to you. Well, in that case, you might not want to feed on me or my blood might just turn you into a human."

Kol froze; it seems he hadn't heard that part of the information from whoever was speaking to him.

"And I can't be compelled, so don't even bother trying to wheedle any information from me that way. You're out of your league if you think you can come in here and try to ruin my engagement party like that." Kol smirked, almost the same way Klaus did. The thought made me want to gag.

"You aren't the nubile young woman I expected you to be, from what my source has been telling me...Nonetheless, you aren't the only one who's out of her league here, Dani. Not only could I kill you before my brother has the chance to blink, but I could just as easily kidnap you and prolong the torture. And I wouldn't lose you to the Salvatore brothers either. How many times did you lose her Klaus? Twice?"

Klaus grumbled and stood. "I suggest you leave little brother, before things get very bad for you."

"You don't have the daggers or the stake, you couldn't kill me if you wanted to."

"Now, who said anything about that?" There was a gust of wind and Kol disappeared. "Dani, we need to be going again."

"Where this time?" I finished my drink and hurried past the shocked eyes of the people inside to follow Klaus out. "We haven't got all of our things yet..."

We went into the parking lot and witness five men struggling to hold a squirming Kol. Klaus went over and snapped his brother's neck, allowing the men to throw his body in the Jaguar's trunk.

"We're going back to the mansion. If Kol has come to town, it isn't good for any of us. We have to keep him somewhere he won't be able to interfere with anything."

"So...we're not going to Paris?" Klaus sighed. "We won't be getting married?"

"Of course we are! We just cannot go right now. Whoever has been helping my brother may try to raise him, unless we are careful about what we do. Come, let us go back to the house."

I took Klaus' hand and sighed. "I think we' should've stayed in Florida...Or just went directly to Paris...I should've never asked to come here."

He raised my hand and kissed the back of it tenderly. "It's alright, it's not your fault Kol decided to enter the game now. We'll just have to keep a close watch on him now, and if he tries anything..." I noticed he didn't finish his sentence.

"Wait...you're not thinking of _curing_ him, are you? What if something goes wrong and he...dies?"

"He's an Original, love. I highly doubt that will happen." I could tell Klaus was lying. There was anguish clear in his voice, and it made my heart hurt in my chest. He was worried that he would kill his brother, and he didn't want to admit it.


	12. Creation

"I'm going into town, do you need anything?" Klaus' eyes widened.

"No you're not, not when our enemies are out there looking for you." I turned, hand-on-hip, to face Klaus. "It's too dangerous."

"I've been in this house for nearly a week without leaving once. The only things I've have to occupy my time are my cell phone, you, or listening to your brother shouting from the basement every five minutes." Kol was chained down in the basement, and we'd drained as much of his blood as we could. There was no way he'd be leaving soon; he could barely move.

"And the only things waiting for you out there are people trying to take you away from me."

"Would you rather I just take myself away from you?" I slapped my hand over my mouth, not meaning to let that slip out.

Klaus' face hardened and he turned away from me and he shouted "Fine! Go get kidnapped, I won't come to get you!" He sped upstairs and I heard a door slam, followed by several loud crashes.

I just hurried out of the house, choosing to go into town in the DB5 rather than Klaus' Jaguar. It had technically been part of my 'surprise,' after all.

I decided to go to the cemetery instead of into town. I didn't have the slightest idea why, I just had the urge to.

There was no other cars nearby when I got there, and nobody else I could see. I walked through the older section of graves to the newer ones, noticing that there were a lot more of the never

headstones. It was a shame how many people had died here lately...

I know I wasn't responsible for any of them, but it still hurt to know that they were all dead.

I passed a medium-sized gray headstone; it was pretty average looking. The inscription was what caught my attention. _Ivy Taylor. Beloved mother and wife, taken too early from her loved ones._

I had no idea my mother had a tombstone. It must've been another one of those things my dad 'neglected' to tell me about as I was growing up. I had a feeling it was put there by her family anyway, as my father probably wanted nothing to do with her after she left.

I kept walking and eventually came to another familiar headstone, a smaller one, with a burnt-out candle and a half-empty bottle of bourbon sitting beside it. I didn't have to read the engraving to know it was Alaric's, simply because of the bottle of bourbon sitting on the ground. It had to've been left there by Damon.

I sat on the ground and sat the bottle upright, for it had been lying on its side among the dead leaves on the ground. I heard leaves crunching but didn't turn to see who it was.

"Damon left that here, in case you were wondering." It was Alaric.

"I kinda knew that...He's the only one that would leave alcohol on someone's grave." He chuckled. "Things have been going so wrong lately...Me being back here is the number one thing."

"Look at who you're with. Things aren't exactly going to go right with a choice like him." I glared and he shrugged.

"It's not like I made a choice. You think I wanted to fall for the guy that kidnapped me twice and forcibly drank my blood? I didn't want to, but I did. There's not much I can do about it now."

"Besides toss that ring in the river and leave him?" I gasped and hugged the ring to my chest. "You're never gonna learn to control yourself and your powers if you let him treat you like a child. You're never gonna learn to control yourself if you keep acting like a child."

"I do not act like a child!" I stood up, brushing the dead leaves and dirt off my pants. "How could you even say that?! With what I've had to go through since I got here...there's no way you can say that."

"You had a disagreement with Stefan and automatically assumed he would try to kidnap you for your blood, along with everyone else that really wants to help you."

"If they wanted to help me, then Stefan wouldn't have asked to use my blood for Elena the same second he heard about it. Besides, I have a _fiancé_ now that is taking care of me and loves me..."

"Do you honestly think he loves you?" I looked at Alaric questioningly. "There's no doubt that he cares about you, definitely enough to be with you...but to marry you? Have you ever considered that Klaus might be doing this for some other reason? Like maybe making you stay with him so he can have access to you?"

I shook my head. "He wouldn't do that..."

"You said it yourself before that he turned on his family just because they pissed him off. What's to stop him from lying to you if he can kill a member of his own family?" I backed up, almost tripping over another headstone in the process.

Still shaking my head, I said "No...It's not true! _He wouldn't do that to me!"_

"Dani..!" I turned and ran from his ghost as fast as I could, not caring the direction I went in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Alaric's PointOfView)**

I watched as Dani ran from me, but I didn't bother following after her. Ayana appeared beside me, staring after Dani too.

"Are you sure that was the best thing to do?"

"She's not going to grow up if she worships Klaus. She needs to know what might really be happening, and that there's a possibility that Klaus might not be the savior she's come to see him as."

"You sound like you really care for the girl. Perhaps she would have been better off if she had come while you were still alive. You could have been the one to care for her instead of _him."_ I didn't respond to that comment. It would've been stupid to tell her or anyone what I was really thinking.

"It doesn't matter. She's hopelessly lost to Klaus. If she's really thinking about what I said, she'll question him and maybe mature a little in the process. Maybe then she could finally learn how to use her power on her own."

"Perhaps. But will you take advantage of the situation when she does?" I shrugged. I hadn't yet decided if it was worth it. "We haven't yet told her that her talents aren't limited to corporeal supernatural beings. She will find out on her own, and when she does, she may wish for you to be resurrected."

"We'll see."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Klaus' PointOfView)**

"Where is she?" Stefan didn't answer and I gripped him by the shirt. "Where is she?!"

"What are you talking about?! I haven't seen Dani today!" Stefan pushed himself off and allowed me into the house.

"You should know full well what I'm talking about. Dani left this morning to go into town by herself, and I haven't seen her since. I searched every goddâmned street in this miserable city and can't find her or the car anywhere!"

"Maybe she left because you're still treating her like a prisoner and trying to turn her evil!"

I was ready to smash Stefan's face in and there was a knock at the door. I wrenched it open to find the most unexpected person.

"Elijah. Should I call it a coincidence that you've shown up again just as Dani has gone missing?"

"I should say not. Dani is no longer in Mystic Falls."

"And how do you know?"

"On your sweep of the entire town, you forgot to search the cemetery for your beloved. Rebekah called to inform me of your misfortune and I happened to see that little silver car of yours in the otherwise empty parking lot."

I pushed past my brother and sped to the Mystic Falls cemetery, which was not far at all from the Salvatore house. Indeed, the Aston Martin was left alone in the parking lot, Dani's fresh scent emanating from it. She had been inside no longer than two hours ago, right after she'd left the mansion screaming.

My brother came as well, and he now said "It seems you've driven her away, which is to be expected."

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"You've been deceiving Dani. Do you honestly think anyone would believe that you proposed to her simply because you care for her? It isn't, nor has it ever been your way of doing things Niklaus." I ignored him and went searching through the cemetery for Dani.

There were small traces of her scent all over, and the bulk of it was directly in front of Alaric's gravestone. She'd been here just before she disappeared.

"She was here visiting him...It had to've been his ghost that drove her away. He has been whispering in her ear ever since she began seeing him. Ayana is probably in on it as well, because she wants Dani to have nothing to do with me."

"I think you don't want to accept the fact that Dani has realized what you are really up to. Perhaps she may have had some help from the dead hunter, but it _is_ your fault that she has gone."

"You may want to watch your words brother, or they may be your last. I have no problem locking you up like I did Kol and letting you desiccate. It's such a more devastating end, don't you think?" Elijah didn't seem deterred by the threat, which only made me angrier. "Why must you have any stake in Dani's life anyway? You've got nothing to do with her."

"On the contrary, brother, I perhaps have much more of a reason to be involved with her than even you do. There are things you do not know."

"Like what? What could possibly matter more than what I've already discovered?"

"Perhaps the fact that Dani's birth was not an accident. She was created intentionally."

"And how would you know?" The truth struck me as soon as the words came from my mouth. It couldn't be true though, could it?

"I know what you are suspecting, and let me be the first to say it is true. I am the one that turned Dani's pregnant mother, and it was purposefully to create a half-breed child. I also sent the witch that assisted in the birth."

I could barely fathom what my brother had just told me. _He_ created Dani? He purposefully did this? And he didn't say anything?!

"Why didn't you say anything!? You knew who and what I was getting involved with and did nothing!"

"You are not the only one that can play god with those around you, Niklaus. The witch I sent had foreseen what would occur if Dani was to remain human, and I did what I had to to ensure her survival."

"What are you talking about?"

"Dani comes from a line of very powerful witches, some of whom I have used in the past. My witch foresaw Dani dying during her birth, and I could not allow that bloodline to end. I attacked her mother and turned her to keep her from dying."

"If Dani comes from witches...that's how she cures us!" Elijah nodded.

"Her blood is the key, because it contains the dormant magic of her family. When she feeds it to someone, that magic activates."

"Why didn't you say this earlier? With all the trouble we've had to go through, you already knew everything and could've prevented that circus of obstacles! As soon as Dani came back to this town, we could have used her blood from the beginning!"

"That isn't why I saved her. I intentionally made her a half-breed, but I did not intend for her to be used as your puppet. You're forcing me to become involved. I will go and find Dani, but I will not be returning her to you."

"And how do you expect to find her?"

"I am the one that made her Niklaus. You might understand the bond there, if you bothered to actually monitor any of your creations."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Dani's PointOfView)**

"Where the hêll am I..?" I looked around at the unfamiliar lines of houses and other buildings, not recognizing at all where I was. I hurried along the semi-abandoned road, looking for any place that might be open this time of night.

I saw a few places and hurried into one, what looked like a dive bar. I was right.

There was smoke hanging in the air and mostly everyone was drunk, except for the employees and a designated driver or two. I went through the place without a word until I got up to the bar and the bartender asked "What'll you have?"

"I'll have...a Lynchburg Lemonade. You do serve those, don't you?" He smiled.

"Why, of course we do. Comin' right up." I sat down and took out my phone, seeing that it was indeed past midnight. It was almost 1:30am, as a matter of fact. How long had I been running? And how far?

When he came back, I asked "This might sound a little weird...But what town am I in, exactly?"

"You're think you're lost?" I shrugged. "Well, you're right south of Huntsville, Alabama, miss. It's maybe a ten minute drive into the city."

Alabama? _Alabama?_ How in god's name did I run all the way into Alabama?! What about all the other states between Virginia and here!?

"Well, I think I went a little too far west...I'm trying to get to my fiancé's beach house in Florida." That wasn't where I was going, I actually had no idea where I was going, but it was all I could think of.

Now that I thought about it though, it seemed the perfect place to go. As long as Katie didn't say anything to Klaus when I got there.

"Well, you'd better check into a hotel when you're done here. It's dangerous to have a lady like you driving around by yourself around here."

"Are there any hotels nearby?"

"There's one about 5 minutes down the highway."

"Thanks..." He went off to serve someone else and I looked around hopelessly. I still couldn't believe that I ran all the way to Alabama in just under 12 hours. _Alabama!_ I didn't even know if full-blood vampires could run that far in that short of a time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hotel phone rang and I quickly snatched it up. "Hello?"

"Miss Taylor? There is a man at the front desk here to see you. Shall we send him up?"

"Yes...And give him a spare room key please, I've been expecting him." I sighed as I hung up and climbed off the plush King-size bed. It only took a day for Klaus to hunt me down, and now he'll want to drag me back to Mystic Falls...

I knew I should've left for Florida or somewhere else this morning.

I went into the main part of the suite as a series of knocks echoed, and wrenched the door open. Standing in the hallway, twirling the room card-key between his fingers, was not Klaus.

"Elijah?"

"Mind letting me in?" He entered and I shut the door. "You should have checked in under a different name. It will be easier for my brother to locate you if you use your real name."

"Why are you here? And how did you even find me?"

"You are of my bloodline, I can find you quite easily." I looked at him oddly. "Yes, you were absent for that particular revelation...Sit, please." I dropped onto the plush hotel sofa and Elijah stood before me. "You come from a long line of witches, on your mothers' side. Did you know this?"

I shook my head. "I didn't even know my mother."

"And that is my fault. One of my witches foresaw that you would die during your childbirth, and so I turned your mother as she was going into labor with you." I froze. "I sent that same witch to assist in your birth, and it was she that discovered the dormant magic in your blood."

"Dormant magic..? You mean how I can cure people?" He nodded. "That...that was all you...You're the reason Klaus kidnapped me!" I jumped up and pounded on Elijah's chest, to no avail.

He pushed me back down on the couch and said "It was not my intention for my brother to do those things to you, nor for you to fall in love with him because of it. But if I had revealed my plans before you were ready, you would not have listened."

"Of course not! But you could've tried to prevent all of this!"

"The only thing I wish to prevent now is this." He grabbed my hand and tore Klaus' ring off. "You are too hopelessly lost to my brother, so lost that you can't even use your powers. It was I that caused you to come back to Mystic Falls, because it was time for you to become who you were meant to be."

"You..? I came back because my cousin moved and I couldn't afford the rent on my own."

"Why do you think she moved?" I gasped.

"You compelled her to leave so I would come back!" I stood again and slapped him across the face. The noise resounded through the silent room for several seconds, until Elijah spoke again.

"When Niklaus and others came to Mystic Falls, many suffered here that did not deserve to. There are too many supernatural creatures, and their presence is beginning to draw the attention to the humans. I brought you back because you have the power to turn them human again."

"And you want me to turn them human so they won't draw attention to us?" I realized I'd said 'us' instead of 'you.' Oh jeez, I was becoming more like _them_ then ever before...

"Yes. If you don't do this, I can guarantee that many will come and try to kill you. New vampires have already come to Mystic Falls and are searching for you. Most of them are not friendly."

"So why are you here? To drag me back, right?" I was surprised when he shook his head.

"I am not as...barbaric as my brother. I am simply asking you to return and assist me in cleansing Mystic Falls of its garbage. I will provide you protection, should you agree."

I sighed. "This is the second...third time I've tried to leave, and it seems one of you vampires always pulls me back...Am I ever going to get away?"

"Perhaps. But do you think that can possibly happen with your hometown overrun with creatures trying to kill you?"


	13. Torn In Two

I couldn't believe Elijah was right. A _vampire_ was actually right!

From the moment Elijah and I strolled back into town, I could sense that there were other vampires all around. Some of them even stared openly at me with hostile expressions on their faces, but none came remotely close. I stayed by Elijah's side and they all remained at bay, but the sense of them surrounding me still made me claustrophobic.

"Elijah..." He looked down at me as he pulled his car up to a red light. "They're all waiting, aren't they? For you to leave me alone?"

He looked out onto the street, undoubtedly spotting the at least four hostile faces just on this street.

"Yes. They will take the first chance they get to either kill you or kidnap you. That is why I'm taking you to a safe place I have set up for you."

"Where?" He didn't answer, only step on the gas and speed away, and I could almost feel the angry vampires' eyes staring after us. It made me shiver.

We got into the town

square and pulled up to the unlikeliest of buildings. I got out and stared up at the second floor window, where I had lived for only a week before everyone started to come after me. I didn't have to ask now why we were here.

"Who did you get to sign the lease? One of your witches?"

"Yes, and she has places certain protection spells on the apartment so you will be safe when I am away. Need I lead you to the front door?" I ignored him and went into the building, going straight up the stairs and down the hall to the front-facing apartment.

It was Alaric's, of course, though I figured I should be calling it mine by now. Elijah followed me in and said "Your things are already in the bedroom, and the cabinets and the fridge are full. You stay in here unless you call upon me first, do you understand?"

I turned and asked "I thought I wasn't your prisoner?"

"You are not." He approached me and I froze, and he put his hand on my shoulder. "You are of my blood, like my own daughter. I simply don't want you to be harmed by any of the ruffians waiting outside this building."

I was slightly confused by what Elijah said, but agreed nonetheless. I had a feeling it was either accept his help, or be thrown to the dogs outside.

I felt despair at the fact that Klaus was one of those dogs now.

"Does Klaus know you've brought me back to Mystic Falls?"

"By now, he most likely does. He may not come in unless you invite him, and as I said, there are other protections in place to ensure he cannot force you out. Niklaus will come, but you must not allow him to gain entrance."

"And if I do..?" A hint of anger flashed in Elijah's eyes, but it was soon gone, and replaced with uneasiness.

"I know you have...feelings for my younger brother, but you must not let that get in the way. If you should choose to go to him, it may mean you will not live to see tomorrow. Are you entirely sure you're willing to hold Niklaus' life over your own?"

When I didn't say anything, he turned for the door.

"I suggest you stay inside until I return at sunset." He was gone and I slumped to the floor.

Why did this have to happen to me? Why couldn't I just leave and stay gone, and none of them would try to come get me? Why did Elijah have to turn my mom, or me, or even care about whether I died or not? If I would've just died during my birth like I was supposed to, then none of this would even be happening.

I held my hand to my chest and gripped my diamond ring tightly between them. I hadn't, nor would I ever, get rid of it as Elijah suggested. Even if I had to stay away from Klaus to do what I needed to, I wasn't just going to forget everything that I felt.

So maybe Klaus used me, and maybe he lied to me about his feelings. I didn't even care by this point. I just cared that I felt amazing and loved and _alive_ when I was with him, and that was all that mattered in my mind. I loved him, and nothing Elijah said was going to change it.

No matter how much it hurt me inside to admit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a knock at the door, but I didn't bother answering it. Sitting on the windowsill, staring out at the sky like I had been all day, I'd seen Elijah drive up to the building only a minute or so ago.

Elijah entered anyway, and said "You haven't eaten."

"Oh, you think? I only feel more terrible than I ever have in my life. Eating isn't exactly one of my 'top' priorities right now." Elijah surprised me by going into the kitchen and opening the fridge. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not entirely familiar with your tastes, but you need some kind of nourishment." He pulled out a blood bag I didn't realize was in the fridge, and brought it to me. I turned away from it, looking back out the window instead. "Dani..."

"I'm not hungry, and I'm not thirsty. Just leave me alone..."

"Well, I'm not going to force you to eat, but you may want to, considering where we are going." I looked up at him questioningly. "My little brother has received word that you are back in town. He has...informed me that either I am to bring you to him, or he will come here."

"I thought you said he couldn't get to me?"

"My witch can't prevent him from burning down the building to get to you. You do realize he would actually do that?" I sighed and stood up, stretching my stiff joints.

I went and pulled my sneakers on, and Elijah took me outside to his car. I didn't see any of the hostile faces from earlier and asked "What happened to all the vampires from earlier?"

"Oh, they're still hovering around. The few you saw earlier had daylight rings like those Salvatores, but now that the sun is setting, many more are coming." I swallowed audibly, wishing I hadn't asked.

We drove into town, to another unlikely destination. "You can't be serious."

"Would you rather meet my brother in his home, where he can do anything he wishes?"

"He does whatever he wants no matter where he is." We went into the Mystic Grill, and I was directed to a small corner booth. "If you're going to hold me prisoner even while we're out, would you mind getting me a drink?"

As he walked away, I said to myself "I'm turning into such a drunk these days..."

"Maybe you and Damon should become best friends." I almost jumped out of my seat at the sound of Alaric's voice. He had materialized right beside me, and I had the urge to punch him, had he been a solid person.

"Is it possible for you to appear normally, or is scaring the hêll out of me going to be your thing?" Alaric laughed.

"I can't help it. I don't get much entertainment on this side, you know. Anyway, I heard that Elijah brought you back, so I came to see."

"What, you couldn't come see me in Alabama?"

"There's only so far I can travel, you know. Why so crabby anyway?" I made a face.

"I've been told that I was not only turned into _this_ on purpose, but that I have to stay away from my fiancé or I might die...How would you feel?"

"Well, I'd probably be thinking about suicide if I wasn't already dead. I did warn you earlier..." I made another face and waved my hand at him. Elijah came back with my drink then, looking at me oddly.

"I don't care if you warned me earlier, it was my choice...Okay, not really, but you know what I mean." I returned Elijah's gaze and asked "What?"

"Talking aloud to Alaric? I thought you were done with that."

"Well, if I'm destined to be killed by some vampire in the near future, then I'm not going to care what people think about me. That includes talking to someone they can't tell is there." Alaric chuckled again and I slammed my fist down on the table, right where his hand was.

"Losing your temper isn't going to make me any more solid."

"Yeah, but it does make me feel better..." There was a sudden chill in the air, and I asked Alaric "Was that you?"

Elijah answered my question instead. "No, I suspect that was just your natural physical reaction to my brother's presence." I looked at him oddly until I realized who had just entered the Grill.

I started hyperventilating almost immediately, and Klaus made a beeline for our table. He pulled a free chair and sat at the open end of the booth, effectively blocking my exit. He didn't look at me, only scowl sharply at Elijah.

"What's the matter Niklaus? Unwilling to sit beside your own fiancée?"

"Well, let's just say that I have an idea we're not the only ones sitting at this table. Am I right Dani?" I looked down and nodded, feeling my face grow hot. I began fiddling with my ring under the table, something I'd begun to do whenever I got nervous or anxious.

Alaric put his hand over mine, and I gasped when I could actually feel it. Klaus' eyes shifted to me but I looked down again, and Alaric disappeared before I could ask him anything.

"Brother, since you have apparently done such a good job of keeping my fiancé away from me, how do you intend to keep all the vampires in town away from her as well?"

"I have provided her a place to stay that will shield her from anyone that will try to harm her. I will go with her anytime she leaves her apartment, and I have a witch watching her as well. Not even you can get to Dani undetected Niklaus."

"Maybe not undetected, but I can still get to her. I don't think your little charms and spells will work very well if I take Dani across the ocean, hm?"

"You won't be able to. Not even the great hybrid Niklaus can overcome a protection spell, a powerful witch, and not being invited into Dani's apartment. Do not forget that you are still bound by the rules of a vampire."

"Some...but not all." Klaus reached for my hand, but suddenly stopped and snatched it back. "What the hêll was that?!"

"As I've said, I have a witch assisting me." Elijah looked towards the bar and I saw a woman wave and smile. "Her name is Annabeth; you may recognize her Dani."

I looked at the woman oddly, but I didn't recognize her. Her name did sound familiar though.

"I don't know her."

"You may know her as 'Beth.' She was the witch that assisted your mother with your birth." I gasped and the pale woman made her way over to us. "Annabeth, I think there is someone here that wants to say hello."

She looked at me. "Dani Taylor, yes? Ivy's daughter?" I nodded. "I'm Annabeth Bradford."

"You don't look like you were at my birth over 20 years ago." The woman looked barely over the age of 30 or so.

"I'm actually almost 70. One of the benefits of being a witch is being able to slow down the aging process." I tried and failed at a small smile, and just looked back down at the table again.

I heard Klaus bitterly remark "Bringing me to a fight without warning? And I thought I was the unfair one."

"I don't intend to fight you Niklaus, unless you give me a reason."

"You mean if I try to take back _my_ fiancée? Are you sure you want to start this war Elijah? You know how this ended last time."

"You have no weapons to use against me, and I'm not so stupid as Kol, so you have no chance of tricking me. By the way Niklaus...you may want to check on Kol when you get home. I'm not entirely sure his restraints are keeping him still." Klaus suddenly disappeared and I looked up, and the witch Annabeth was laughing.

"That was a nasty trick Elijah. You are more like him than I thought."

"Don't compare me to Niklaus. Ever." She seemed to cower back a bit. "You may go, I have no need of you now." She got up and left without a word, and Elijah said "You may think me cruel, but I shall never be as depraved as my younger brother has become."

"Right, because releasing your evil youngest brother and holding me hostage isn't the most cruel thing you could do to him right now. I'm leaving."

I stood and Elijah said "You aren't leaving here alone."

"You said I wasn't your prisoner, or have you forgotten that? I am grateful to you for all the protection against my enemies...but your brother Klaus is not my enemy. Just because you two can't stand each other doesn't mean I have to be in the middle of it."

I got up and, surprisingly, Elijah didn't follow me. I knew he probably had either a vampire or another witch following me though, so it didn't matter if he was actually there.

I walked down the street, away from the town square and all the rush of town. I didn't wander out of town, but just traveled the little back streets for a while. I didn't feel like returning to the apartment just yet, but there wasn't really any place I could go either.

I hated being a complete outsider like this. I wasn't ever really an 'insider' or very popular, but having to wander the streets of this town alone? I felt like a homeless bum.

I felt like I deserved to be there.

I turned from the street I was on onto another tiny, dark alley-street, and found that I wasn't alone. I could tell immediately that there was another vampire nearby, and something else too.

The vampire moved across the street, but in the near-darkness, I couldn't clearly see his face. From behind me came someone that smelled human, but I knew he was probably a witch. Or a warlock, whatever male witches were called.

The man behind me was struck down almost instantly, and the vampire laughed. As soon as he did I recognized the voice.

"Kol? So Elijah really did let you out?" He came up to me, close enough to be able to see his haggard face. "You don't look so good though."

"Well, if you and my brother hadn't kept me in that basement, I wouldn't be slowly turning to stone, now would I?"

"If you wouldn't have attacked..." He raised his eyebrow and I sighed. "Yes, Klaus probably would have imprisoned you anyway...But you can't honestly blame me for that!"

"Oh, I assure you, I don't. I'm just...wondering why my other brother took time out of his busy schedule to free me. And why you're all alone on this little street, as well."

"Me and your brothers...aren't agreeing on some things. Elijah thinks I should cure everyone that threatens us, and Klaus thinks I should keep my powers to myself, unless he says so...They haven't stopped arguing about it."

"Well, it sounds like they haven't taken the time to ask what you want to do with your powers. Fortunately, I am not so selfish."

"Oh really? Prove it."

"Oh, I can. Come, let us have a civil conversation where my brothers will not intrude." He held out his hand and I took it gingerly, and was whisked away from that dingy alley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, was this where you were hiding before your brother managed to kidnap you?"

"Yes. And the fact that he has not found it is no accident." I looked around the large apartment with interest. Kol actually had some interesting things laying around.

"I guess you had this place protected with magic?" He nodded. "My apartment is the same...Nobody but me and your oldest brother can enter without him knowing, some kind of alarm spell I think..."

"Well, I've done a bit better. Nobody can find this place unless you or I tell them about it. Comes very much in handy when I want to be near to my brothers without them knowing." He went to a small, ornate cabinet and pulled out a snifter of some unknown liquor and two glasses.

"A proper set? How nice it is to not be drinking out of a plastic cup." He chuckled and poured me some. I sipped and the burn hit my throat immediately.

"What's that word Elijah likes to use for Niklaus? Barbaric? I'm not _barbaric_ enough to use plastic cups." I smiled tightly at the mention of Klaus' name. "Now, about the bit of news I've heard about you...Would you mind confirming if it's true?"

"I already did at the bar, remember? Whoever's been helping you has been giving you reliable information...So what need is there to talk to me?"

"Just making sure everything is in order...As honorable as I may seem, there is someone I want you to turn for me."

"Let me guess...Klaus?" He shook his head and I was legitimately surprised. "Who?"

"Elena Gilbert. My brother may want to punish me, but he won't kill me...I'm only doing the same to him."

"And how is turning Elena human a punishment? If anything, he wants her to be human so he can make more hybrids." I'd heard about how the Salvatores were hunting them down, and doubted if there were any left.

"Yes, but if Elena is human she can be killed more easily. And that would create so much more drama between the Salvatore brothers, and that's always fun to watch."

"I can't disagree there...But what makes you so sure I'll agree?" Kol smirked and approached me.

"I happen to have been communicating with some spirits myself...and I know there's someone you'd just _love_ to make human again, and I can help you."

"I don't know who you've been talking to, but there's nobody I'd want to turn human again...especially not against their will."

"So Ayana has given me false information?" I stepped back, startled. "Yes, you are not the only one that has come into contact with her as of late. Though I did it on purpose, after I found out you has spoken with her."

"And what did she tell you? Who did she say I would 'love' to bring back?"

"Your little ghost friend...Alaric, I think his name was?" My eyes widened and I unintentionally grabbed Kol by the jacket, letting my glass fall to the ground and shatter. "Well, that's quite a reaction..."

"How? How could I possibly bring Alaric back? He's dead!"

"Yes, but he hasn't passed on. He's a ghost, and that's a supernatural creature, and so he can be made human again. If you are willing to accept my help, and don't tell anyone of course."

"Anything! Whatever it takes, I'll do it. Alaric didn't deserve to die like he did..."

"Of course. Now, as I said...are you really willing to accept my help?" I looked up at Kol as he touched the side of my face with his hand. "You'll have to be...very discreet...Niklaus will be furious if he knows I am assisting you."

"Assisting...That's a funny word for what you're trying to do." He snickered.

"I understand you haven't been with my brother in quite some time...so is it not true that I'm assisting you in this aspect as well? I promise to treat you with the utmost respect..."

"Providing I remain discreet?"

"Exactly." Kol stepped closer and I felt his lips against my forehead, and knew I probably had no choice here. I could refuse, but then would he still be offering his help in bringing Alaric back from the dead?

I highly doubted it. And it was true, that I hadn't been with Klaus in some time...

I was actually considering this? What was happening to me!?

"Now, now, why so tense..?" I made a face up at Kol and he chuckled. "Loosen up, it will do loads for your mood."

"I'm actually considering accepting your help, and your 'assistance' as you're calling it...Do you honestly expect me to feel normal?"

"No, I expect you to feel...wonderful. When I'm done with you." I couldn't help but chuckle at that line.


	14. An Unlikely Betrayal

"Where did you go last night? The witch I had follow you was found dead in an alley this morning, and there were no traces of you." I looked up at Elijah from my place on my couch. Kol had returned me here very early this morning.

"So you did have him follow me...One of those vampires killed him, and I had to hide. That's why you couldn't find me."

"Where did you hide? I looked everywhere."

"Did you happen to look inside the Salvatore mausoleum? I thought it would be a perfectly ironic place." I'd rehearsed this story with Kol several times, because I couldn't tell Elijah or anyone where Kol was hiding, or that I'd been with him at all.

"Well, I guess it is good that you got away from your attacker...Though I will insist that you remain inside to prevent anyone else from surprising you in that same way."

"Sure." Elijah was suddenly gone and I dug my phone out of my pocket. I quickly dialed Kol's number, and as soon as he answered, I said "He believed my story. Did you go to the mausoleum?"

"Yes, and it looks like you spent a long, dirty night in there. I even left a half-finished bottle of wine for Elijah to find with your scent on it. This isn't my first time hiding, Dani."

"I was just making sure...Now, are you really going to help me or not?"

"Of course I am. I'll even be at your

apartment in several minutes so we can discuss it in person."

"And discussing is _all_ that'll be going on." Kol chuckled and I hung up.

As I nervously waited for him to show, my mind flashed back to last night. Sweat broke out all over my skin as I vividly remembered every kiss and touch, and I tried to push the images and feelings from my mind. It didn't work very well, because when a series of knocks resounded on the door, I nearly fell out of my seat.

"It's about time...Klaus." It wasn't Kol standing in my doorway, but Klaus. I took several steps back and Klaus entered, and I hurriedly asked "How...how can you come in? I didn't invite you..!"

"You don't own this place, remember? I easily found the witch my brother had employed. She's laying in her home with a broken neck, I'm afraid. That means her spells wore off as well."

"But...how? Why?"

"As I told you before, anyone that tries to steal you away from me will pay the price. I'm having a small amount of trouble locating exactly where Elijah is, though."

"Perhaps I could help you with that." My heart jumped into my throat as Kol appeared in the doorway. "I didn't realize there would be other visitors, Dani."

"What..?" Klaus' eyes shifted from his brother to me. "You were going to invite him in? Why?"

"He...was going to help me, to turn someone human...It isn't you, I swear!" Klaus' face darkened. "I don't know how to work the magic myself, and Kol was the only one that offered to help...Please don't be angry!"

"Oh, I'm not." Klaus stepped away from me and faced his brother. "I'd say I was furious. My younger brother trying to intrude in my affairs? Not your smartest idea."

Kol didn't back down from his brother. "Oh, I'd say it was incredibly smart, actually. You see, I've been helping Dani in ways you haven't, and she's very close to using her powers on her own. I'd say my assistance has done a lot more good than _yours."_

I knew Klaus had got the underlying meaning in Kol's words when he took Kol by the jacket and slammed him against my wall. "You touched Dani!?"

"Well, it wasn't all one-sided brother. She did touch me back." Kol chuckled and Klaus immediately snapped his neck, but I knew that wouldn't keep him down for long. He had my blood in his system from last night, and would heal even faster than usual.

With a grunt and a growl, Klaus turned to me next, evil clear in his yellow hybrid eyes. I hurried across the room, almost stumbling over the table and couch on my way.

I held my hands up and said "Please...please...I didn't mean to hurt you...I was just caught and I didn't know what to do!"

"Oh, but sleeping with my brother is the only thing you could think of? _My brother!"_ Klaus sped to me and I screamed, and everything went dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Third Person PointOfView)**

"What? How?!"

"It doesn't matter. If you want your precious Elena to be cured I suggest you have that little basement room ready for Dani by the time I get there."

"How do you even know she'll recover?"

"Half-vampire, remember? Just have it ready." _Klaus hung up and took Dani's limp body in his arms, and hurried down the stairs. He stashed her body in the trunk before speeding off towards the Salvatore house, guilt heavy in his mind._

_Truly, he didn't know if she would recover from her injury that he had caused. Even beneath the anger of his beloved Dani betraying him, he wished deeply that she would survive this. If she didn't, he didn't know if he would be able to handle it._

_Klaus came to the Salvatore house and Stefan was already waiting outside, questions at the ready. As soon as Klaus presented Dani's body, he asked_ "Are you gonna tell me what happened now? Who broke her neck?"

"I did." _Klaus hurried through the house to the small room in the basement that he'd previously been locked room had served the same purpose for several different vampires before. He laid her down on the floor and Stefan appeared in the doorway._

"Why did you break her neck? I thought you were the one that wanted to use her?"

"I highly suggest you move away from that line of questioning, unless you want to be the next one in here." _Klaus went to the fridge full of blood bags the Salvatores kept and took one out for Dani._ "Dani disappeared again, and I discovered she had spent the night with Kol, wherever he is hiding."

"Kol? I didn't know he was still in town." _Klaus put the blood bag besides Dani's still form and tightly closed the door to the small cellar room._

"I'd kept him imprisoned in my home, but Elijah appears to have set him free."

"Then...do you think he sent her to Kol purposefully?" _Klaus scoffed; even he wasn't that stupid._

"Of course not. He's the one that started all of this, the one that wants to get rid of all of us. He was protecting Dani, and probably lost track of her, the idiot."

"Okay...so why is it a problem? Did you really have to break her neck just because she hurt your feelings?"

_Klaus slammed Stefan hard against the stone cellar wall, and could hear several of Stefan's bones crack under the force of the hit._ "Say that again, and I'll make sure you don't say another word ever again. If you must know, Kol promised to help Dani use her powers to turn someone human again. I don't know who, I don't why him, so stop asking." _Klaus released him and stormed up the stairs to the first floor._

_There, he went to the parlor to retrieve himself some alcohol from Damon's personal stash. Stefan followed but didn't say a word, and soon after Damon arrived home. He looked at Klaus oddly as he entered, and he and Stefan had a hurried conversation regarding what had just happened._

_Damon went to Klaus and asked_ "You were really stupid enough to let that happen?"

"I'll say to you what I said to Stefan; leave it alone, or you'll be the next one down there."

"Ooh, scary." _Damon sat._ "You know, if she doesn't survive this, you just ruined your own plan of curing Elena and making a boatload of new hybrids. And I though Stefan and I were stupid."

"Very funny Damon. Am I the only one that remembers Dani is half-vampire? She won't die from a simple broken neck."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Klaus' PointOfView)**

She wasn't waking up. It had already been an hour and Dani still hadn't woken up yet.

"I'm going downstairs to check on her."

"What's the point? If she wakes up, she wakes up. If not...then you're screwed." I glared downward at Damon before going back to the cellar.

I could immediately tell something was wrong. The door to the small room was wide open, and Dani was not laying on the ground as I had left her. The bag of blood was still there though.

I heard the small shuffle of a footstep and turned and found a spatter of blood splash across my face. I stepped back, stunned, from the bloody face of Dani, and she shoved me back into the small room.

"You're awake..? Dani?!"

_"Infero eseri gratas! Disasustos Vom!"_ I was thrown on the floor and I shouted as a horrible pain shot through my body. I looked up at Dani as she screamed her spell, blood still dripping from her forehead.

"Dani..!"

_"Mas pro jeta sue te! Victas et melam..!"_ Dani suddenly froze in place and stopped chanting, and the pain ripping through my midsection stopped. I pulled myself to my feet and she still didn't move, and I was perplexed.

Stefan and Damon both appeared behind her with confused expressions on their faces. "What the hêll just happened?!"

"Dani, she...tried to cure me." I wasn't sure, but she had splashed her blood in my face and mouth right before she started screaming... "But I don't know what's going on now!"

I touched Dani and she twitched, then slowly looked up at me with tears now coming out of her dark blue eyes. What?!

"I...did I just...attack you?"

"Yeah, and you were dâmn-near close to finishing that spell of yours."

"What spell..? Oh no...no, no, no...I just tried to cure you!"

"Yeah, I figured."

"I didn't try to though!" She suddenly dropped to the ground in tears. "I just remember us arguing, and then you...broke my neck, and...I woke up with you screaming on the floor...What just happened?"

I looked at Stefan and Damon, and they didn't look like they knew what was going on either.

"Well, you lost control somehow...Let's just get you upstairs." I reached for her but she shied away, pulling herself up instead. "Dani?"

"I'm not an idiot, you know. You just snapped my neck, and whatever is happening is your fault."

"My fault..? I'm pretty sure you're the one that spent the night with my little brother doing god-knows-what." Damon made a noise and Dani rushed upstairs by herself. "Well, that's fantastic. Not only does she have a psychotic break, but I'm apparently target #1. Just fantastic..."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have snapped her neck. It's not like you wouldn't go back to chasing Caroline if she wasn't here." I glared at Damon and he smirked, and I hurried up the stairs after Dani.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Dani's Point Of View)**

I sat on the long leather couch and stared at the fire, unable to think of anything to say. What was there to say?

Apparently I'd had some kind of psychotic break, and had attacked Klaus without knowing it. And I'd tried to cure him, which would have been just as effective as killing him! Me!

I hadn't exactly gotten along with him the last week or so, but there was no way I would _ever_ want to kill him...And the fact that I had tried was tearing at my insides.

"You have no idea what that was, do you?" I shook my head as Klaus slowly sat down beside me. "I don't blame you for doing that, love...There's no need no cry over it."

"But If I would've cured you, then you could've died...And I don't know if I could've handled that."

"How do you think I felt when I snapped your neck? I'm sorry about that..."

I shook my head. "It's okay, I'm okay...Okay, not really..." Klaus chuckled and pulled me to him, and I laid my head in his lap. I could feel him running his fingers through my silver hair as I said "I'm not mad that you attacked me...It's not like you didn't have reason..."

"Why did you go to Kol? He told me that he was assisting you with your powers...but is that really why?"

"In truth...I ran from Elijah and he had a witch following me, and Kol killed the witch. He didn't hurt me, so I was curious about what he was up to...That's why I went to his apartment. He offered to help me with my powers, said that he'd contacted Ayana...And said I could cure someone I cared about."

"Who?" I turned my face away from the fire and looked up at Klaus. He bent down and kissed me lightly and said "Go on love, you can tell me."

"He said I could use my blood to bring Alaric back from the dead." His eyes widened. "I don't know if it was Ayana or Kol himself that figured it out, but Kol told me that since Alaric was a ghost, that meant he was a supernatural creature and could still be cured. It didn't matter that he was dead...He could be brought back."

"That's...rather incredible...And you could bring anyone back from the dead like that?"

"I guess...I still don't know how to make it work though."

"What about that spell you were using?"

"That wasn't for a cure." I bolted upright and saw Bonnie standing in the hallway with Stefan. "You weren't trying to cure him."

"What? How did you get here so fast?" She walked in, not looking surprised at all to see Klaus sitting beside me.

"As soon as you came out of your episode or whatever, Stefan called me and told me what happened. He also told me some parts of the spell you were trying to use."

"And I wasn't trying to cure Klaus..?" I looked at him worriedly. "Then what was I saying?"

"The spell you were using is called the Incantation Of The Storm. I used it once before...When Klaus broke his hybrid curse, I tried to use it to kill him. That was before we knew it would kill Stefan and Damon too..."

"I remember that..." Klaus stood. "Now that I think about it, the sensation of ripping my insides apart felt quite the same as that. But didn't you need to power of many witches to perform that spell?"

"100, to be exact...And Dani isn't even supposed to be able to use magic. Her magic is supposed to be dormant in her blood. Something happened while you were knocked out that caused that to...I don't know, change."

I groaned. "Why..? After everything else that's happened, why do I suddenly have to have an evil personality try to kill my fiancé?" When I said that, everyone else in the room froze.

Damon looked at Stefan and asked "Could that really happen after one time? She doesn't even have a ring!"

"I don't know if it matters in this case...She does have a repressed half." They both looked at me.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Do you know what happened to Alaric before he died? How he...changed?"

"Not really...What happened?" Him and Damon looked at each other again. "What is it?!"

"Alaric had a ring that brought him back when he died, but after he died too many times, he developed another personality...It went on a rampage and killed a bunch of people, and after Esther Mikaelson turned him into an Original vampire, it almost killed me and Damon."

"And...you think that's what's happening now? That Klaus killing me gave me some...evil other half that took control?" She shrugged. "Fantastic..." A thought popped into my head that made me bolt upright again. I looked at Klaus as I shakily asked "If I bring him back...Will he be him, or be that evil other half?"

Bonnie got between us and asked "What are you talking about? Bring who back?"

"Alaric! Ayana and Kol both said that since Alaric is a supernatural creature, he can still be turned back into a human...Even though he's technically dead."

She stared openly at me, her face going slowly from shocked to happy. I became minutely worried.

"Bonnie..?"

"If you can bring Alaric back...do you think...you could bring my Grams back too?"


	15. The Return

I hoped dearly this would work. I took a deep breath and called out "Alaric?"

"Yes?" I spun to see him lounging against the

kitchen counter "You called?"

"Thanks for giving me a heart attack...We need to talk."

"About?"

"Why didn't you tell me I could bring you back?" His lips tightened into a thin line. "I know you've been talking to Ayana, and that means you had to've known...Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it was my place to...You weren't ready yet to use your powers, and if I told you, you would've just kept obsessing over it."

"Well, since I got killed by Klaus and now have an evil-psychotic second personality, I think it's about dâmned time. Now, if I bring you back, are you going to be evil like you were before you died, or are you going to come back normal?"

"Normal is my best guess. I was right before I got turned." I nodded and took another deep breath.

"So...how am I supposed to get you my blood? I'm pretty I can't just splash it in your ghostly mouth."

He laughed. "No, you can't...It's quite a bit more gruesome than that. You need a physical body to give the blood to."

"Physical..?" I realized what he was saying and buried my head in my hands. In a muffled voice I asked "Please...am I really going to have to do _that?"_

"Afraid so. You can always have the Salvatore brothers do it, I'm sure they'd be glad to." I scoffed.

"Yeah, right. If Damon knew that we'd have to dig up your body to bring you back, he'd never let me do it. He has too much respect for you."

"Well, I guess you'll just have to find a shovel and do it yourself then. Meet you at the cemetery." I made a face and Alaric disappeared, laughing quietly to himself.

I looked around my/his apartment and asked aloud "Now where in the hêll am I gonna get a shovel?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After getting Klaus' DB5 and making a quick stop at the local hardware store for some supplies, I sped over to the cemetery as fast as I could. The sun would be setting soon, and I decided sunset was the best time to do this ritual.

I thoroughly check to make sure the graveyard was empty before I went to Alaric's grave. Someone had left fresh flowers and a fresh bottle of bourbon in front of it, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, at least I'll have something to drink when I pop out of the ground."

I moved the items and dug the shovel out of my bag of things. "You're not getting drunk the second you come back to life. I've got clothes here for you so you can get dressed and go see your best friend." Alaric hopped off the nearby gravestone he was perched on.

"Damon? Are you sure he'd want to hear about you digging me up and bringing me back?"

"That's why I didn't tell him about it first. He'll be much more accepting if you just show up, that way he knows it actually worked." I tossed my things to the side and dug the shovel into the ground. "One down, 10,000 more to go. This would be so much easier with one of those giant excavator machines."

"Or a vampire or two with super-strength. But, you're bringing me back to life, so I'm not going to complain." I looked over at him and he laughed again.

It didn't take me nearly as long as I thought to dig all the way down to his casket, only about an hour and a half. I missed sunset though, and it got dark very quickly once the sun went down.

As I was digging, I said "Let's hope this works just as well without the sun shining over us."

"Oh, I think it will. Magic's in the blood, remember?" I made a face and continued to dig, but quickly after that the shovel hit something hard. "Well, that didn't take long at all."

"Maybe not for you, because you're not the one that had to dig." I bent down and brushed some dirt off the casket before I wrenched the lid of it open.

A horrible smell wafted out of it and I had to step back for a moment, and when I looked inside I saw a partially decomposed version of the man sitting a few feet above my head on his own gravestone.

"Well, don't you just look pretty...That'll all heal up when you come back, right? I don't think people will be so welcoming if you look like one of the Evil Dead."

"Ha ha ha, very funny. Your blood will do the healing, thanks to that vampire half. It's nothing to worry about."

"I'm more worried that you know more about this than I do when you can't even talk to people." He made a face and I made one back, and pulled my bag down into the hole I had created. In addition to the shovel, I brought a change of clothes for Alaric, a knife, and several candles. Something told me I'd probably need them, and since I could barely see, I was glad I remembered them.

I laid the candles out around the open hole and lit them with a lighter I'd also bought, and now a dull light shined down into the grave, further illuminating the hollow-looking face of Alaric's body. I shuddered and retrieved the knife.

"So I have to give you my blood...then what? Is there some kind of spell I have to say?"

"No...You just have to concentrate hard on what you're trying to do. It's not regular magic that you're trying to use, it's different."

"Different?" I looked up at him. "What kind of magic then? It's not dark magic is it?"

"No...Look, I don't know all the specifics of it, but it lets you use a lot more power than other kinds of magic. Ayana didn't want to tell me everything...She just said that with Expression, you would be able to cure all the vampires and other creatures, and you wouldn't need any spells to do it."

"Sounds too good to be true...Jeez, could your body stink any more?"

"Just do your ritual and my body won't be decomposing anymore."

I took the knife in my hand and shut my eyes tightly as I slashed the skin of my wrist open. The blood dripped quickly down onto Alaric's body, and I hurriedly put my wrist over his mouth so the blood would run in. I wasn't sure how much it was supposed to be, so I just let it run until the wound healed itself up.

"Okay, so I just concentrate on healing you, right?"

"That's what I was told." Alaric jumped down into the hole as I bent over his rotting corpse and began to concentrate.

The smell and the way my head was swimming made it hard, so I knelt down on the casket and put my hands on Alaric's face and focused on it.

I noticed a change immediately. My heart began to race and it felt like I was slipping from consciousness, but I held on tightly as I continued to focus my hardest on bringing Alaric back.

His rotted skin began to heal before my eyes, nearly causing my to break my concentration. The holes and pits began to fill themselves in and his face regained the fullness his ghostly form had retained, and in the places where his hair had begun to fall out, it was quickly regrowing to its living state.

I wavered as it again became harder to keep myself conscious. I blinked several times and looked up out of the hole, and saw Alaric's ghostly body slowly disappearing.

I looked down and Alaric's eyes suddenly snapped open and he drug in a ragged breath, and I fell over onto his dirty casket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dani...Dani..?" I felt a man's hand brush my forehead, and again someone repeated "Dani..?"

I mumbled "What?"

There was a dry chuckle and someone said "Glad to see you're alive...Can you open your eyes now?"

I felt incredibly tired, but I managed to force my eyes open to see the blurry image of a man. I blinked several times and my vision cleared, and I was face-to-face with Alaric.

"Hey there...So did the ritual work?"

"Yup. I'm 100% alive again...and human, and not evil. Are you okay though?" I weakly rolled over to discover I was laying in the grass beside Alaric's grave, that was now filled in. "While you were out, I shoveled all that dirt back in and changed into the clothes you brought. You looked like you were in a coma or something."

"How long was I out?" I looked up at the sky and saw it was still dark.

"A few hours...It's about midnight now."

"Midnight..?" That meant I was unconscious for at least 6 hours. "Oh great...Everyone's looking for me aren't they?"

He shrugged. "No idea. I can't teleport to check, remember? I have a feeling we'll find out if we go back to my apartment though. Well, it'd be your apartment now." I shook my head and chuckled.

"It's okay, you can have it...It's caused me nothing but trouble." I tried to push myself up off the ground, but my arms were so weak that I dropped back down onto the dirt. "Okay, that sucks..."

"I've got this." Alaric slipped his arms under me and lifted me easily, and started making his way to my car. Unthinkingly, I reached up and touched his hair and face, just to make sure he was real. He chuckled dryly and said "Don't worry, I won't smoke out and drop you."

"Just making sure." I noticed I could hear his heartbeat through his chest too, and the steady _whoosh_ of his dry breathing. I imagined it sounded like that because he hadn't drank anything in quite some time. He put me in the passenger seat and said "I'll stay with you tonight to make sure nothing goes wrong...If you died in your sleep, I know there's a few people that would be really pissed at me."

"Just...Don't let me kill anyone, okay?" Alaric looked worried, but my vision blacked out and I fell unconscious again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Third Person PointOfView)**

_Alaric decided to take Dani to the Salvatores, since they would be able to take much better care of her than he alone. Also, if something had happened to her because of the magic, he didn't know how to deal with it._

_He made it there in no time at all thanks to Dani's fast car, which he knew she had gotten from Klaus. He recognized Klaus' other car in the Salvatore's driveway, along with Stefan's and Bonnie's. They all must've been out looking for Dani, or were about to._

_Alaric shut the car off and took Dani out, still having to carry her because she was still unconscious. The door to the Salvatore house opened and Stefan was there, and his eyes widened and his jaw fell slack. He stood unmoving and silent, staring at the reanimated form of his former friend._

_Because Stefan had not returned, the others within the house now filed to the large doorway, all stopping at the sight of Alaric. Even Klaus and his three siblings, who had all been called in for the search, were not immune to the shock of Alaric's return._

_Alaric made his way with Dani to the doorway and said_ "Are you gonna let me in or not?" _They all moved, and as Alaric passed through the group he looked at all of them, but did not see Damon among them. Unbeknownst to Alaric, Damon had gone to check Dani's apartment before the rest of the party set out._

_Alaric laid Dani out on the couch and covered her with a heavy blanket resting on the nearby chair. He looked at the group, which was still silent and staring, and only managed to say_ "Hi guys...I'm back."

_They still did not say a thing. Perhaps the most shocked of the group was Bonnie, who did not believe Dani had the power necessary to cure anyone, let alone raise them from the dead. There was the noise of a car engine outside the house, which was Damon coming home from a fruitless search of Dani's apartment._

_Damon entered and saw the group gathered together and remarked_ "Did I miss something? Hello?"

_Stefan turned and managed to reply with_ "We know where Dani went."

"Oh thank god...If I would've had to go out and search for that girl one more time..." _Damon entered the parlor as he said this, and stopped abruptly in the middle of the floor. He took small, slow steps the rest of the way across the room until he was face to face with his best friend, the best friend that had died in his arms, the best friend that he had cried his eyes out over._

"Alaric..? What...what's going on here..?"

"I'm back." _Damon stepped up to him and jabbed him in the chest with his fingers, just to make sure he was really confirming Alaric was really there, he embraced his best friend in a tight hug, unable to hold back the tear or two that escaped his eyes. Several tears slid down Alaric's face as well, and he said_ "I'm happy to see you too buddy."

_Damon pulled back and asked_ "But...how? You were dead! You...you died in my arms!"

_Alaric motioned to the unconscious Dani._ "It was her. She dug me up and brought me back on her own...She knew you'd be happy to see me, I think."

"Dani..?" _Damon went to the sleeping Dani and, surprising everyone else in the room, kissed her forehead._ "She brought you back...It was stupid but...Oh jeez, I need a drink."

_Alaric chuckled and said_ "Me too buddy. Still keep the good stuff in the back of your cabinet?"

_Damon and Alaric went to Damon's liquor cabinet and fished for a drink, and the others in the room slowly adjusted to the situation and were finally able to talk to each other._

_Bonnie exclaimed_ "I...I didn't think she could actually do it! How..?"

"I guess we were wrong...But what know? We know she can cure people and bring supernaturals back from the dead..." _Stefan and Bonnie looked each other in the eyes, both having the same thought at that very same time._

_They both looked at Klaus, who had went over to check on Dani, and both thought the same thing. Klaus had caused so much trouble for them and many others during the time he'd been a vampire, and now they had a way to change that. If they could somehow convince Dani to help them, they could cure Klaus and keep him from ever being a problem to them again. The same could be said for all the Originals._

_Stefan now thought of the times they had tried to do away with the Originals, and how they had failed each and every time. Dani could make sure they didn't fail again, and that nobody else had to die for Klaus' or the others' fiendish plans._


	16. Resurgence

**(Klaus' PointOfView)**

I glared down at the thrashing form of the one that was sometimes Dani. Her face was twisted with anger and she pulled hard against her restraints, but since she didn't have any blood in her system except her own, she didn't have enough strength to break them.

She looked up at me and bellowed "Let me the hêll outta these ropes!"

"Not until you let my fiancèe back out." She grinned a malicious grin.

"Not a chance. Because I'll take right back over as soon as you untie her." I had to remind myself that Dani was in there somewhere to keep myself from hitting her.

"Fine, then maybe you can answer a few questions. Like how you were able to cast a spell on me that wasn't part of the cure."

"Well, it was a part of it, in my own way...You dead would make _so many_ things better." I didn't react and she said "I can use Dani's blood magic differently, because I'm not bound by the fact that I might kill each and every one of you."

"Then why did you spray her blood in my face the first time you attacked me?"

"Blood magic, duh. If her blood isn't in your system the spell won't work, same thing as with the cure. By the way...if Dani does manage to get control back, you should ask her what kind of magic it was that she used."

The malicious grin turned into a smug smile and I hit her across the face. She cackled depravedly and I couldn't take it anymore.

I left the room and slammed the door hard behind me, and all noises that were going on downstairs stopped. I went down and Stefan and Damon were both staring at me, as was Bonnie.

Stefan stepped forward and asked "How is she?"

"How do you think? The evil side is still in control and doesn't want to let go. Unless Dani fights her for control..." I didn't bother finishing; they all knew what the risk was.

Dani had gone to sleep the previous night feeling fine, and I'd fallen asleep drinking on the sofa, and woken up with her hands around my neck. I knew immediately she'd gone evil again, and I tied her up in one of the bedrooms upstairs.

Bonnie stepped forward and said "There's something I might be able to do for her, if she can regain control. There's a certain mixture of herbs that one of my grimoires says will cure her. Alaric was taking it, until Esther got to him."

My mother. I snarled, knowing all of this was her fault. Us being vampires, me...being a half-breed outcast...It was all her fault.

As was every single thing that had happened since then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Dani's PointOfView)**

I could see out of my own eyes, feel my own body, but I couldn't control anything I was doing.

My body got up from the couch, which I recognized as being in the Salvatore parlor, and went to Klaus, asleep on the other end of the long leather sofa. My body settled itself on his lap and I thought I was having some kind of weird dream, until my hands closed around his neck.

I tried to pull myself out of it, to wrench my hands away from Klaus' neck, but my body wouldn't respond to my commands. Klaus' eyes snapped open and he threw me from him, and when my body curled into a fighting stance, I knew something was very, very wrong.

My body didn't have enough time to launch itself at him, because Klaus quickly sped over and struck me across the head. I wasn't completely knocked out, but even in my weird locked-in state, I could feel the urge to succumb to the overwhelming pain that was radiating from my head.

I was carried upstairs to one of the bedrooms and immediately tied down by my wrists and ankles.

My body began to thrash against the ropes, but even I knew I wouldn't be able to break them. Even if Klaus hadn't been the one tying them.

The somebody began to speak in my voice, saying terrible things to Klaus...Telling him that I wanted him dead!

When this other personality, which by this point was what I guessed it was, started talking about my blood magic, I could see Klaus getting angrier and angrier with each word.

And when she said "By the way...if Dani does manage to get control back, you should ask her what kind of magic it was that she used..." and he hit me. Literally.

Klaus raised his hand and struck me across the face, and my head snapped sideways as the other personality cackled maliciously. Klaus ran from the room and I tried to cry out but no words came, only more cackling.

My body spoke aloud in my voice, albeit a bitter, nasty version of it.

"Aww, are you mad that our fiancé slapped us? I could probably make him do a lot more if I wanted."

Being that I couldn't speak, I angrily thought the words _Why did you do that?! Why are you doing this!?_

"Isn't it obvious? I want to make Niklaus, and you, as miserable as possible before I dispatch him." I gasped, or tried to. "He and his spawn have been causing us far too much trouble lately, and he's not really that important anymore anyway. We have other Originals, and we can easily make another hybrid if we need it. Niklaus has become...stale. Obsolete."

I noted how she used Niklaus instead of Klaus, and there was only one person, one **vampire,** that I knew of that did that.

_You're doing this for Elijah, aren't you? You're trying to kill my fiancé because he's a danger to Elijah!_

My body cackled. "Well, I didn't think you would figure it out that fast, but yes, that's a part of it. You've repressed your vampire half for so long, all that pressure just coalesced into...well, into me. Elijah gave us our life, and you've given him nothing but grief, so I'm taking over."

_No!_ I pushed hard against the other woman, but it did nothing except make her laugh madly. I pushed again and again it did nothing, and I wanted to bang my head off of the nearest object.

"Go ahead and try, banging our head off of things won't make me go away."

_No, but at least I could mess up that ugly expression you've put on my face._ That suddenly reminded me of the magic I had at my disposal, and I felt like an idiot for not using it before.

I started to draw on my Expression, the same magic that I'd used to bring Alaric back, and my other personality screamed.

"What are you doing!?" I used magic to push her aside and she screamed again. "You bîtch..!"

_Yeah, a bîtch that's about to push you out of my head._

There was a brief moment of pain as the other woman was ripped from control and I took it back, and pushed her as far back in my mind as she would go. My body was sweating and my head was pounding, but I was back in control. I moved my hands and feet and it was actually me moving them, and a wide smile spread across my face.

The door to the room burst open and Alaric and Klaus stood in the doorway.

"Alaric! Klaus! Come here and untie me!" They didn't move.

Alaric asked "How do we know you're really Dani?"

"Because I pulled you out of the ground and almost died, you jackâss." They looked at each other and I groaned. "And I'll tell you about the magic I used..."

Alaric said to Klaus "That does sound like her..."

"Leave the room." He looked confused. "Leave the room, and I'll tell you if it's really Dani." Alaric looked between me and Klaus several times before he left the room, and Klaus shut and locked the door tightly behind him.

"What'd you do that for? You know it's me!" He didn't say anything and I sighed. "She threatened to take control again if you untied me..."

"If it even is you right now and she does take control back, he doesn't need to be here to see what happens...Nobody does." My eyes widened and I shrunk back against my restraints.

My voice was uneven as I stammered "You...were going to...kill me?"

"I was, and am, going to do whatever it takes to make sure you don't try to kill me again." He walked over and I thought he was going to hit me again, but he sliced open the ropes around my ankles. "Your other personality hates my guts and wants to kill me...so there's only one thing I can do to make sure you aren't her."

I felt my heart jump into my throat as he climbed onto the bed with me, and I started babbling senselessly. "There's people downstairs waiting for us and everyone will be able to hear and what if someone walks in and..."

Klaus put his hand over my mouth and said "Shh. I didn't say I was going to do _that,_ now did I? Just...stay still. And quiet."

I held almost completely still, almost because I couldn't keep my hands from shaking, as Klaus felt me all over. His rough hands made their way from the healing bondage marks on my ankles to my waist, and I shuddered as they passed over the sensitive area on my abdomen.

His body followed his hands and settled over me, and I couldn't deny that I missed the feeling of his chest against mine, my legs wrapped around him, and his hand weaving through my hair.

"Well, you haven't attacked me yet..." Klaus looked briefly into my eyes with his bright blue ones. "Let's see if that holds up."

He pressed his lips to mine and I could feel the other woman thrashing in the back of my mind, and when she couldn't take control back like she promised, a wide grin spread across my face.

"I've got control of her now...She won't be going anywhere." He smirked.

"Good. Now that I can definitely tell you're yourself again..." Klaus reached up and tore off the ropes around my wrists, and put his hands back on me.

I chuckled and asked "I thought you weren't going to do _that..?"_

He shrugged. "I lied."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Third Person PointOfView)**

"Okay, who wants to go out and drink?" _Damon clapped his hands together and stood._ "I feel like a bottle of liquor and a game of pool."

"Why?" _Bonnie turned towards Damon with a confused expression._ "It'll be too dangerous to leave Dani here unprotected."

_Bonnie was one of the only ones in the room without supernatural hearing, and could not listen in to what was going on just up the stairs. Damon had been the first to hear, and wanted to get out of the house as soon as he possibly could._

"She won't be unprotected...Her wonderful hubby Klaus will be here to protect her. Right Ric?"

"Yeah...I doubt if he's gonna wanna leave anytime soon..." _Alaric could not hear what was going on, but he had enough common sense to know; Klaus would not have sent him out of the room otherwise._

"Whatever...If you wanna get rid of me just say so, Damon. Just make sure Dani takes these on a regular schedule." _Bonnie sat down the jar of herbs and walked out of the house. She left the front door open and Stefan followed her out, leaving Damon and Alaric alone._

_Alaric held in a laugh and said_ "You know, you could've just told her the truth."

"And risk Bonnie going all super-witch and trying to destroy Klaus right now? I'd rather live, thanks."

"Whatever you say...Let's get outta here, I feel even more lonely than usual."

_Damon threw his arm around his friend's shoulders and said_ "Don't worry. I'll take you to another town where you can pick out any woman you want for a night or three of fun. What d'you say?"

"I say I need a drink or three first."

_Damon snickered._ "Ah, I missed you Ric."


	17. Expression

"Bonnie...I need to speak with you."

"Well, it's nice to hear you're awake...Where are you?"

"I'm at Klaus' mansion...Some stuff happened at the Salvatore house and they thought it'd be safer for me here." What had happened was Elena and Caroline. They had some grand idea that I was evil, so I left with Klaus and we came back to his mansion where I spent the rest of the night and most of the morning. "Are you at school?"

"Yeah, but it's lunch right now...You should hurry over, that way we can talk outside."

"I'm leaving right now." I hung up and got up off the bed and pulled on the nearest clothes I could find.

I looked down at Klaus resting on his bed and he looked back up at me, and I said "Well, you probably heard my entire conversation, so do I need to explain?"

"No, you must see the witch about your magic...But I insist that you feed before you leave. If you are to live as a vampire, you cannot go without blood."

Since my evil personality was only popping up when I was unconscious, I'd made the decision to give in to my other half and live as a vampire so I'd never have to sleep. That also meant I had to constantly feed as well.

I pulled on a shirt and sat back down on the bed and asked "Does that mean you're volunteering?"

Klaus shrugged. "I won't provide you with as much nourishment as regular human blood...but feel free, love. Be gentle, would you?" I smirked.

"Oh, gentle I will be..."

My fangs descended from my gums and I leaped onto Klaus, straddling him with a grin on my face. "Or maybe I won't be so gentle."

I tore into his neck and his warm, velvety blood

filled my mouth and I drank it down by the mouthful, almost losing myself in the orgasmic taste of it. This was way better to me than regular old human blood.

When I'd had my fill, I released and kissed the wound, which was already beginning to heal. Klaus smiled and said "You look so satisfied..."

"Not even close...but we can always take care of that later." He pulled my face down to his and licked off his own blood that had dripped down my chin, and we shared a rough, bloody kiss. "Oh, we'll definitely take care of that later..."

"Then don't take too long, lovely." I climbed off of him and slipped into my sneakers that were sitting by the bed. I hadn't planned on going out today, and didn't bother dressing up. Sneakers and a borrowed jacket were good enough accessories for me.

I didn't bother taking a car. If I was going to live like a vampire, I wanted to take advantage of using my vampire abilities every chance I got.

I set off at top speed towards Mystic Falls High School, going faster than I thought possible with Klaus' blood in my system.

I made it there in a matter of minutes and saw Bonnie waiting underneath the cover of a particularly large tree, looking a bit nervous and worried.

Her face lightened a bit when I approached and she said "It's about time you got here...I've been worried ever since everyone left you alone in that mansion last night..."

"I wasn't alone, Klaus was watching over me. I won't tell you to like what he's done, but he is helping me." She nodded.

"So what did you want to talk about? You sounded pretty urgent...Are those herbs working?"

I nodded. "I've been taking them, yes...But I need to ask you...Will feeding on blood affect how they work?" Her eyes widened and I quickly said "I'm not feeding on people, don't worry...But that other woman has only taken over when I fall asleep and when I'm weak, so I figured that if I start living like a vampire, it'll be harder for her to take control."

"That makes sense...and it shouldn't affect how the herbs work. If anything, suppressing her like that should help them work. Is that all?" I shook my head. "Did something else happen?!"

"No, no, no...Well, not exactly...You remember how I brought Alaric back?"

"Yeah, that other personality said something about the magic you used. Do you remember what it was?"

"I was told it was called Expression...Have you ever heard of that?" Bonnie shook her head. "Is there anyone you could call to find out about it? All I know is that it isn't normal magic, and with everything else that's been going on..."

"You want to make sure it isn't dark magic." I nodded. "I can call my mother, she knows more about the different kinds of magic than I do...But you know that if it is something bad, you'll have to stop using it right away, or bad things could start happening."

"I know...Look, thanks for doing this for me...I just have so much to worry about already..."

"I'll try to call her, so just come back at the end of the day." Bonnie turned and went back into the school, and I could see both Elena and Caroline already inside waiting for her. I decided to leave before they spotted me, to avoid another confrontation like when Elena had gotten to the Salvatore house last night with Caroline.

I decided to go into town, because I hadn't taken the opportunity to for quite some time. Since before Klaus snapped my neck was the last time, I think.

I was walking aimlessly around the town square when I sensed the presence of another vampire. I inhaled deeply and could smell him, and his scent was a very familiar one.

That was why I was not surprised when Elijah strolled leisurely towards me, in absolutely no hurry.

"How did I know I was going to meet someone unpleasant here? I think I should've stayed inside today."

"Dani, there is no need for such words."

"Really? So you've changed your mind about using my blood for your own nefarious purposes? I'm inclined to think you haven't."

"Nefarious is such an...evil word. I have nothing but the best intentions."

I turned away from Elijah while saying "Your best intentions are the worst I've seen yet."

I walked away and he reappeared in front of me and grabbed my wrist tightly. "Dani, that is no way to speak to me when it was I that saved your life. You should be more grateful."

"And you should remember that I never wanted to be like this." Elijah grunted in pain as I snapped each of his fingers and removed my hand from his. "Even with everything I have with your brother now, I would've rather died in my mother's womb 20 years ago." I looked around before I muttered "And if your brother wouldn't get so angry, I would cure you right now."

This time, when I turned away, Elijah had enough sense not to follow after me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way home, I was unfortunate enough to run into another of the Mikaelson siblings that I didn't want to see.

When Rebekah came up, I sneered and said "Well, isn't this just a pleasant surprise...If you have anything to say to me, I suggest you ask your brother Elijah first."

Her angry face didn't move. "Elijah told me what you did to him earlier."

"Did he also tell you that he wants to use me to cure Klaus?" She looked surprised. "Like I said, ask Elijah before you confront me." I kept walking, but of course, she kept right along with me. "What?"

"When did Elijah tell you he wanted to cure Klaus?"

"As soon as the news about my cure came out, which is why I don't want anything to do with him."

"You're not thinking of doing it, are you?!" Rebekah grabbed my arm and I stopped, but I didn't sense any of the anger or desire to hurt me like Elijah had earlier. She was worried, worried for her brother. "You're not going to cure Nik, are you?"

I shook my head and she let my arm go. "I wouldn't do that even if someone forced me...But I can't promise that I won't do it to Elijah or Kol. Your brothers are getting out of control."

"I know...and I've tried to convince them to stop, they can't keep doing what they're doing with consequences...At least you've managed to tame Nik a bit."

I smirked. "A little, I guess...At least he hasn't killed anyone in a while." I looked down at my phone's clock and noted that school was almost over. "I've got to go see Bonnie about something...You can come if you want."

Rebekah looked confused. "I thought you hated me?"

I shrugged. "I thought you hated me too...So we going or not?" She nodded and we headed towards the school.

In my mind, I was as equally content as I was confused. I really thought Rebekah had hated me, with all the times she said so while Klaus had kept me captive in his mansion. I guess she was just as unsure of everything going on as I was.

It didn't take long, and Bonnie was waiting outside by the same tree that we'd talked at earlier. Her face suggested whatever she'd found out wasn't good, and I immediately become worried.

"Bonnie? You look like...crâp."

"What's she doing here?" Bonnie looked uncomfortable that Rebekah was with me.

"Don't worry, she's not here to hurt anyone...What did you find out?"

"Whatever you do, you can't cure anyone else."

My mouth popped open in surprise. "What? Why not?"

"Expression...It is not good magic. It's not even dark magic, it's worse...It's a type of magic that requires a sacrifice of twelve people to be able to be used."

I froze. "A...sacrifice? You mean someone sacrificed twelve people so I could use my blood as a cure?"

I was even more surprised when Bonnie shook her head. "That was what confused me...I know you've never killed twelve people and I told my mother that, and she didn't know how you could use expression without a sacrifice. She said..."

"Wait, you told your _mother?_ Bonnie!"

She looked slightly ashamed. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't lie to her about this. She said she would come here so she could take a look at you, and maybe figure out why you're able to use Expression. But she said not to use it again until she gets here."

"Well, I wasn't planning on using it unless I absolutely have to, so she doesn't have to worry about that...Thanks anyway for calling her. I'll let you know if I find anything out on my end before your mom gets here."

Bonnie nodded and we parted ways, and the only thing that Rebekah said was "Wow."

I sighed. "I knew there had to be something wrong...You can never do something good in this town, can you?"

"I guess not...Should we go to tell my brother? If you're in danger from this, he'll want to know." She sounded a bit bitter, and I didn't blame her.

"Let's go...I don't feel so safe out here in the open anymore."

Luckily for us, Rebekah's car wasn't parked very far away. It was a quick run there and just as short of a drive back to the mansion, where Klaus was just coming out of the front door.

When he saw us drive up, he asked "What the hêll are you two doing together?"

"I ran into your sister after I ran into Elijah...and broke nearly every one of his fingers. We need to talk."

"What did the witch say?" After I quickly skimmed through what Bonnie had told me, Klaus cursed aloud. "If she's bringing another witch into this town to see you, then you're not going alone. I'm coming with you."

"I don't think Bonnie's mom is going to appreciate having you there, since you tried to kill her daughter and all..."

"And I don't very well appreciate my brother trying to turn you into his own personal weapon. I'm going, and that's the end of it." Klaus stormed back inside the house and Rebekah and I stared wide-eyed at each other.

"I think I'll go...If you need any help handling Nik or Elijah, let me know..." I nodded and Rebekah got back into her car.

I went into the mansion and back into the kitchen where I found Klaus draining a hospital bag of blood into a glass.

"You seem upset...Did something happen while I was gone?"

"Did something happen...Of course something happened!" He crushed the glass in his hand, and the blood trickled down off the countertop. "You just told me you're using some horrific type of magic, and that it might hurt or kill you...Why wouldn't I be upset!?"

"Okay, you have to calm down...You know you can do stupid things when you're angry..." His rage-filled eyes turned to me and I automatically took a step back. "Klaus, calm down."

"How can I calm down when you might die?! This witch had better find a dâmned way to get rid of this Expression, or I'm going to get rid of her."

"Klaus!" His hand came around my throat and I tried to pull it off, but because I hadn't fed in several hours, my strength was waning. "Let me go! You know what happened the last time!"

The other woman was still scratching at the back of my mind. Thanks to Bonnie's herbs and my own efforts, she had weakened, but I knew if Klaus hurt me right now she could grab control back.

"I don't care about what happened! I don't care what is happening! I don't care about anything!" Klaus threw me out of the kitchen and I skidded across the hardwood floor and smacked against the edge of a nearby doorway.

I could feel a bit of blood flow before the wound healed up, and there was a sizable dent in the doorway where my head had hit. I was glad he hadn't thrown me as hard as he could have, or I would've been knocked out from that hit.

I pulled myself to my feet and went back into the kitchen. As Klaus ripped off a chunk of the countertop and threw it across the room, I took my bloodied hand and clamped it on his open mouth as hard as I could.

Klaus tore at my arm and I screamed "If you don't calm the hêll down, I'll cure you right now!"

He stopped ripping at my arm and I could feel his heavy breathing, and his heart rate was slowing back down to normal.

I slowly pulled my hand off and asked "Now, are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." I took a step back so he could wipe my blood off of his face. "You didn't have to do that."

"You didn't have to try to kill me again."

Klaus leaned against the broken counter with a look of despair. "This is definitely not how I pictured our love life...I try to kill you, you try to cure me, we make ravishing love when we're not trying to kill someone else..."

I shrugged. "It's a pretty sucky life...But that's just the kind of lives we have." I scoffed. "And I never thought I'd have such an okay attitude about all of it either..."

"Yes, you used to be so worried about things...I think I've safely corrupted you past the point of no return." I chuckled a bit and he stood. "Perhaps we should leave this town for a while, go somewhere none of these vampires will bother us."

"We tried that before, remember? It didn't end well for either of us..." I shuddered as the memory ran through my mind. "Besides, there isn't anywhere we could go where they couldn't easily find us."

Klaus surprised me by smirking. "Well, there is one city I am rather fond of...Ever been to Louisiana? I hear New Orleans is lovely during Mardi Gras season."

"Are you serious? New Orleans? Just leave everyone in the middle of all this trouble and go to one of the biggest parties in the world?" I couldn't believe what he was I remembered Klaus loved to be big and showy for his enemies, and it wasn't so surprising. "Sounds lovely. When do we leave?"


	18. The City That Care Forgot

New Orleans, at night, during Mardi Gras...I would never forget the sight.

Klaus and I speeding to the edge of the city in one of his cars, then jumping along the rooftops until we were right in the center of the celebration. There were lights and decorations and people everywhere...

_So many people._ My mouth began to salivate at the thought of all the blood flowing down in those bodies, and Klaus chuckled.

"I know what you're thinking, love, and you can't quite go on a rampage yet...We haven't even gotten settled."

I looked at him oddly. "What do you mean? We left our bags back in the car, which I'm almost positive you sent someone to pick up and stash at some house or hotel." Klaus grinned and I knew I was right. "I'll hold off on the rampaging...of those people, at least."

His wicked grin widened at my words. "Well, I never did to finish satisfying you after you fed on me earlier..." I remember when I fed on him. We would've finished, if not for the news of my Expression troubles. "I think I'll do that now."

I was whipped away from that line of thought as Klaus pulled me to him and ran his hand down my spine, making me shiver.

"You're lucky I want to be distracted right now, or else I'd be mad at you."

"Hmm..? And why's that?" He bent down and skimmed his nose along my throat and I almost melted in his arms.

"Because we're outdoors...in a public place...where anyone can see us..."

Klaus stood and said "Nobody is on the roof, and they're all worried about the celebration down below anyway. Now, where was I..." He put his mouth to my neck and kissed it and I shivered again.

Knowing he wasn't going to change his mind, and that he was probably right, I decided to go with it. What harm could a little outdoor fun do?

I pulled Klaus' face off of my neck and brought it up to mine and kissed him hard, and he responded enthusiastically. His hand curled around my thigh and pulled it up to his waist, and I saved him the effort of pulling up the other. I could feel his desire against my groin and smiled against his lips.

"A bit of an exhibitionist, are you, Dani?"

"I thought you were the one that liked to show off?"

"Indeed. And right now I feel like showing off you." Klaus broke the kiss and with a flick of his wrist he tore my shirt in two and it fell to our feet in pieces. "Oh, and one more thing..." Another flick, and my bra joined my shirt, freeing my breasts.

His mouth quickly fastened to one and I buried my fingers in his hair, loving the feelings he was giving me. Klaus knelt down and laid me

flat on the roof and continued his little merciless assault until I was moaning his name under my breath.

He surfaced with a grin and asked "Have you had enough already?"

"Not even close...The rest of me would like some attention too though." He put his hand on my face and I thought he was going to kiss me, until I felt his other hand undoing my jeans and sliding them off my bottom. "Why, Mr. Mikaelson..!"

As he stripped my pants the rest of the way off he said "That is the name of my family...I am my own man. Now I'll show you why." He dipped his head down between my legs and my gasp was so high-pitched it was like bats could've heard it.

This man was an expert with his tongue, almost as good as a certain _other_ part of his body.

And when he surfaced I was determined to see that part, so I pushed him down on the roof and began pulling his clothes off.

As I fiddled with his belt and eventually just tore it, he remarked "Someone sure seems earnest."

"Someone hasn't been able to relax and really enjoy herself because every other vampire is trying to kill her."

"Well, I'm glad I could help you relax, Miss Taylor." When I pulled his pants off he flipped me over again and said "Let's see just how 'relaxed' I can get you..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Klaus, look!" In the afterglow of our lovemaking, I was sitting on the edge of the roof we were on, looking out over the parade. I still hadn't put my shirt back on, so the night breeze was fanning lightly across my tender breasts. Tender, because of how Klaus had ravaged them.

He made his way to me, also without his shirt, and looked down at the people on the balconies throwing beads. "I thought they didn't really do that?"

"Tourists love to come and do it anyway...Why, going to try to score a few strands of plastic beads for yourself?"

I grinned. "Maybe...Hey! **Hey!"** I shouted down at the people below me on one of the balconies and they all swiveled their heads to see where my shout had come from. A chorus of happy, surprised cheers followed.

I looked back at Klaus and said "Let's see how many beads I get."

I reached my hands out to grab several bead chains they were throwing up in the air, and the ones I missed fell to the crowds down on the sidewalk. I screamed loud and giggled, and heard several suggestive remarks from some of the guys standing below.

I put some around my neck and wrapped others around my wrists, and I was soon jingling everywhere with the little plastic beads. I retreated back onto the roof and said "How'd I do?"

"Excellent...Now don't go letting anyone else see your chest, because _these,"_ I yelped as Klaus pulled me to him and grabbed my breasts in his hands, "are all mine. Right?"

"Right..." My voice was horse with want, but Klaus released me and climbed to his feet. "Come, we must go get settled. I have a feeling you'll love the place I've chosen for us."

I pulled on Klaus' black two-button blazer since he'd torn my shirt to shreds and he pulled his dark T-shirt back on and we set off.

We ran and jumped across several more rooftops and then down onto the ground, where Klaus led me down a couple of crowded streets to one of the most beautiful houses I'd ever seen.

It was a mansion, in the French Quarter I think, and had a short stone wall with wrought ironwork surrounding it, and columns holding up a second floor balcony stretching across the whole front of the house. There were hanging plants that draped almost to the ground and the whole thing looked like it was pulled straight out of a Civil War-era photograph.

"Oh my God, It's beautiful! Whose house is it?" Klaus smiled and I gasped. "Why didn't you tell me you had a place like this? I would've come here ages ago!"

"I did help build this city, even this house personally, and it always has been one place I loved above all others...Now you can love it too."

"Oh, I do...Who takes care of it?" I ran my hand along the iron fence-work as Klaus held the small gate open for me.

"I have a vampire compelled to stay inside the house and take care of it. I pay the bills and send her nourishment every so often, just in case I decide to drop by." _Nourishment,_ that's an interesting way to put it.

"Wait, did you say _her?"_ Klaus nods and I feel jealousy bubble up inside me, though I don't know why. I haven't even met this woman yet!

I think he knows what I'm thinking, because he chuckles and says "Don't worry, it isn't what you're thinking. Come inside and you'll see."

I followed Klaus inside the lavish plantation house and I saw our things resting in the corner, and a tall red-haired woman of about 30 came out to meet us with a smile on her face.

"Niklaus, it's been too long!"

"So it has, Amanda." Klaus motions to me and says "Amanda, this is my fiancée, Dani Taylor. Dani, this is Amanda, my vampiric caretaker of this beautiful house."

Amanda looked at Klaus in horror. "You didn't tell me you were engaged when you called!" She turned to me. "Dani...I don't know if I should congratulate you or feel sorry for you, but nice job snaring this one's heart. I didn't even know he had one." I held in a laugh as Klaus glared darkly at her. "I'll have Kai take up your things."

Kai..? I was confused until a black-haired, green-eyed man strode into the room and picked up all of our things in one armful. I wondered if he was a vampire too.

Almost in response to my question, Klaus said "He's one of the nourishments I had sent here, before Amanda decided to sleep with him." She made a face and I did laugh this time. "He used to be one of my warlocks."

"So he's human?" Klaus and Amanda both nodded.

Amanda said "He managed to steal my heart in a matter of no time. He goes shopping for me too, since I'm not allowed out of the house..." Klaus shrugged.

"Can't have anyone knowing I'm here, can I? Besides, I allowed your lover to stay here with you, so you have nothing to complain about." Amanda grinned briefly, then her face fell.

"Yeah, that has been nice...Let me see what's taking him so long..." Amanda sped off up the stairs and I could hear her and Kai shuffling around upstairs. The thick floors were muffling their voices, even to my super-heightened hearing.

"What's with her?"

"Can't you guess?" I shrugged and Klaus shook his head. "Amanda has been here almost as long as the house has, and she's in love with a human. She dreads the day Kai will grow old and die."

"Can't she turn him into a vampire?"

"She's like you, she doesn't want to put this burden on him, and he doesn't want the burden of having to feed on humans."

"Burden?" I turned to face Klaus once more. "Since when have you thought being a vampire is a burden?"

He smirked. "I don't, but she does. Amanda wishes she was human more than anything...Like Stefan had wished when he was with Elena." I gritted my teeth at the mention of their names. They weren't exactly my favorite people right now.

"Well, maybe she'll get her wish..." Klaus' eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. I had to suppress a giggle; it wasn't often that he was surprised. "Don't look at me like that, you know I can do it."

"You aren't to cure anyone under _any_ circumstances, Dani. Not until we find out what it's doing to you."

"It's not doing anything to me." Klaus raised his eyebrow as if to say _Oh really?_

"Then why did you fall unconscious and almost kill me the last time you tried?" I stuck my tongue out and he chuckled.

Amanda and Kai came back down the stairs and Amanda over-happily asked "So, anyone hungry? We have human food to cook, and blood in the fridge, for those of you that prefer it..." She looked pointedly at Klaus as she said this.

"We'll both have some food. Thirsty, Dani?" I nodded fervently. "And we'll both have some of that blood."

Amanda nodded and asked "Do you cook Dani?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Because Kai can't cook to save his life, and it'd be nice to have someone to help me." Kai elbowed Amanda and she grinned.

I looked at Klaus and he nodded and I said "Okay..."

"Great! Follow me!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me away from Klaus and Kai's chuckling faces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While we were waiting for the Parmesan Chicken to finish baking, Amanda started asking me some of the questions I'd guessed she'd been holding in her head since I got here.

"How did you and Niklaus meet?"

"I moved back to Mystic Falls from Virginia Beach, and he and another vampire tried to rob my apartment."

"That didn't bother you?"

I shrugged. "A vampire hunter that they knew had lived there before me. I was more bothered when Klaus kidnapped me, multiple times."

"He _what?"_ Her voice was raised loud enough that I knew Klaus would hear her, wherever he was in this large house. "How..? What..? Please explain!"

I giggled before continuing. "He kidnapped me because my blood gives him more strength than human blood, but after I escaped multiple times, we made an arrangement that he could continue to feed on me as long as he didn't try to take me again. That worked for awhile until we got into a relationship, then a bunch of crazy stuff happened and we found out I'm a half-vampire."

"How is that even _possible?"_

"It gets weirder...We also found out I can cure supernaturals and turn them human again." She gasped and I remembered what Klaus said about her wanting to be human to be with Kai. "I cured a ghost and brought him back from the dead, but a bunch of weird stuff started happening, so Klaus brought me here to get away from everything...He proposed while we were at his Florida beach house."

I held up the giant ring I still wore and Amanda gasped again.

"Oh. My. God. Niklaus finally settling down and getting a sense of reason..Who knew! And you said you could cure people? Like vampires?" I nodded. "Wow..."

"While you were upstairs earlier, he told me that you wanted to be human to be with Kai..." Amanda's eyes widened. "I could do that. It's risky, but..."

"You'd do that?! Thank you!" Amanda suddenly pulled me in for a very tight hug, one that would've crushed a normal human's ribs. "I've been with Kai for five years and all we want is to be able to leave here and get married and have kids...Thank you!"

5 years? "I guess Klaus had a heart even before he met me if he let Kai stay here...But Klaus doesn't want me to use my power because it's dangerous for me, so you can't tell him anything about it."

She nodded hastily. "I'm on vervain under his orders, so even he can't compel it out of me...When do you wanna..?"

"It will have to wait until Klaus is asleep or leaves the house...If he even suspects what we're doing, he'll stop it in an instant."

When I though about just how he could stop it, I automatically rubbed my neck. I prayed that he wouldn't try to snap it again when he discovered my plan, which I knew he eventually would.

There were footsteps echoing through the first floor of the house and Amanda and I quickly went back to cooking, pulling the chicken out of the oven just as Kai entered the kitchen.

"Niklaus wishes to speak with you, Dani."

"Alright, I'll go up as soon as we have this ready."

"He said immediately." I stared Kai down and he shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet. "He was very insistent..."

I glanced back at Amanda and asked "You can handle this yourself?" She nodded and I made my way out of the kitchen.

I eventually found Klaus in what looked like the master bedroom upstairs. He was putting our things away in one of the big mahogany dressers; I noticed the enormous bed frame was of the same dark wood, as was a large trunk at the base of the bed.

He looked up at me from his tedious task and asked "What were you and Amanda talking about?" I swallowed loudly.

"She asked how we met, and was really surprised when I told her you'd kidnapped me...She thought I was insane for being with you after you took me prisoner multiple times." Klaus smirked. "Is that all you called me up here for?"

"No...Are you still thinking of curing her?"

"Yes." I wasn't going to lie about that, because he'd know I was lying. I wasn't about to tell him that we'd already made plans to do it, though. "She's been here with Kai for five years, and all they wanna do is get married and have babies, and all those things that normal people get to do...I know you aren't very sympathetic to that cause, but I am."

"Just because I have no desire to ever be human does not mean I don't know their struggle. If it were not at such a price for you, my love, then I would let you cure Amanda right now. But if it means you might die or even surrender to that other evil woman within you, then no." I frowned deeply.

"I knew you wouldn't understand..." I was less mad about him saying no then about the part about him becoming human. _I have no desire to ever be human..._ Fine, if he wanted to play that game! "The food is finished downstairs. I'm going out for a while."

"What?" I grabbed my jacket and sped out of the room, but Klaus quickly caught me halfway down the main staircase. He grabbed me by both wrists and I didn't even try struggling out of his grip; I knew I wouldn't be able to. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"I want to go out...If you're going to act obtuse like that, then you can go to Hêll." I couldn't believe the words were spilling from my mouth, but they were the truth. He _had_ to understand why I wanted to do this.

"Act like what?! Is this all because I won't let you cure Amanda!?"

"So what if it is?!" I knew Amanda and Kai would be able to hear us in the kitchen with how loud we were getting. "I want to cure her and you're not going to stop me!"

He looked even more angry and confused. "Why? Why risk your own life to cure one insignificant little vampire?"

"Because I'll never get to be human!" Klaus froze and i was finally able to pull my hands out of his grip. "I've led my entire life knowing I was different from other people, and ever since the moment I found out I was a half-breed, I've wanted nothing more than to become human. My vampire side will prevent me from aging and keep me from ever being able to have children. I know you're not interested in those _weak human things,_ but I want a son or daughter to love and care for and continue my bloodline..."

Klaus sunk to the floor with his head in his hands, as if he couldn't understand what I was saying.

"I knew it...I knew you wouldn't want that to happen. You just can't bare to let the threat of curing someone leave, can you? You'd rather keep me around as a weapon against your enemies than as your wife. Well, you can forget about that too." I yanked off the diamond ring he'd given me and threw it at his face, where the hard diamond made a thin cut across his cheek.

I stomped down the stairs and out the front door, past Amanda and Kai's shocked faces. Down the walkway and out the gate, where there was still a full-fledged parade going on. Even someone as adept as Klaus would never be able to track me in a crowd this big.

I used my super-speed to weave in between people and parade floats, heading in no particular direction. Up and down random streets until the crowds began to thin and the parade noise began to dim.

After a while, I found myself at the banks of what I knew was the Mississippi River, and contemplating jumping into the slow-moving waters. They would have no problem dragging me down, but I knew it wouldn't kill me. Dâmned vampire half.

Yeah, I was being irrational, but so what?! Klaus was being an idiot! Why couldn't he just let me do this one thing with having some over-protective, super-controlling thing to say about it!?

"God, sometimes I wish I'd never MET you!"

"Those are awfully strong words...I can only wonder who you're talking about." I spun to see a dark-skinned man walking up from a distance. I knew immediately that he was a vampire. With how much of Klaus' blood I drank on the way here, he probably thought I was a vampire as well.

"Who in the hêll are you?" The man chuckled.

"Just a friendly neighborhood immortal, like yourself...Who happens to know you sped all through the streets of my city at top-speed." I stiffened. "You smell familiar...Have we met somewhere before?"

If I smelled familiar, than this guy probably knew Klaus. And knowing Klaus' reputation with most other vampires, that was probably not a good thing.

"No, I can definitely say I've never seen you before." The man smirked.

"I'd have to agree...I think I'd remember seeing hair like this." He reached out to touch one of my silver locks of hair and I jerked backwards. "You're a twitchy one."

"And you're awfully audacious. Just because you live here or whatever does _not_ mean you can touch me."

"Oh, but Niklaus can?" I froze. "I do recognize that scent that's all over you, I just wanted to see if you'd tell me the truth...And now that you've lied, maybe you'll tell me the truth?"

I sneered. "I don't know you, and I already don't like you. I'm not telling you anything."

The dark-skinned man stepped forward and said "My name is Marcel, I was sired by Klaus a couple hundred years ago. Now you know me."

"I still don't like you."

"Well, we'll just have to fix that, now won't we?" He sped forward and his hands were around my wrists, but his grip was nowhere near as strong as Klaus', and I broke out of it easily. Marcel looked surprised. "So you're older than me?"

"Actually, I'm only 20. I just happen to have a very powerful friend that I get my strength from." Now Marcel's sing-songy smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown. "I suggest you get out of here, because I can guarantee that he is out looking for me, and he won't be happy to see you harassing me."

"I think Klaus will choose his own protogé over some woman he's been sleeping with."

"Not if that woman is my fianceé." We both spun to see Klaus making his way over now, and I felt my face go deathly pale.

After everything I'd said to him, I didn't actually expect him to come looking for me. I was just trying to threaten this man that looked like he wanted to throw me into the river with my feet encased in concrete.

"Klaus! My old friend, how are you?" Klaus didn't smile or return the cheerful greeting.

"Dani, my side. Now." Though I didn't want to be near him right now, I wanted to be near this Marcel even less, so I scurried over to Klaus' side. "Marcel, you are my friend and my student, but you have overstepped your power. Threaten Dani again and you won't live to see the next century."

Marcel surprised me by chuckling wickedly. "Look who's overstepping his power! I love ya Klaus, I do, but you don't have any power in this city. I'm the king around here, and I don't care if it's you or your little piece of âss right there, my rules are what goes."

"Well, your rules can go to Hêll as far as we're concerned. Let's go Dani." Klaus put his hand on the small of my back and started to lead me away.

Marcel called out "It'll only be a matter of time before my people find your house and then you'll have nowhere to hide!"

I turned and saw Marcel had sped away.

Klaus almost growled as he said "Don't worry, I've got the house in Kai's name so no vampire can enter without my permission."

"But what if he's got witches?"

"We have those too, remember?" Klaus looked down at me as we walked with a pained look, and my eyes immediately shot down to the ground. "You have my permission to cure Amanda, but only if we have some of my witches on standby in case anything should go wrong."

"Really?" He was finally beginning to see my point of view...but I still wasn't forgiving him. "I mean...thank you for finally seeing it my way."

I could see the side of Klaus' mouth pull up into a smirk.

He held up my ring but I shook my head. His face twisted into a scowl but he said nothing, only wrap his arm tightly around my waist as we walked.


	19. Second Chance

I stirred, the distant sound of ringing pulling me from my deep sleep. Sleep!?

I shot straight up in bed, looking around in bewilderment. How could Klaus have let me go to sleep?! When did I even fall asleep..?

I spotted Klaus sitting on the trunk at the end of the large bed and nearly shouted "How could you let me fall asleep?"

"Relax, you didn't try to kill me or anyone else this time. I think we can safely assume your murderous other personality is gone."

"Maybe...What was that ringing?" Klaus chuckled. "What?"

"That was your phone. A certain Bonnie Bennett has been trying to call you for some time. I thought it rude for me to answer for you." I scowled at Klaus and he chuckled again.

I grabbed my phone from the bedside table just as it started ringing again, and Bonnie shouted "Where have you been?!"

"Uh...sleeping?"

"No, where have you _been?_ My mother got here late yesterday and we showed up at Klaus' mansion...and neither of you were there! Where'd you go?"

"Oh, that..." I saw Klaus grinning and made a rude gesture with my hand, and he crawled up onto the bed. Oh no. "We had to get out of town...Everyone was starting to get to be too much, chasing after me for one reason or another...I'm sorry."

"I wish you would've warned me! Is there any way you can come back, or tell me where you are so my mom and I can come see you..?"

"No, I'm sorry..." I felt Klaus tugging at the blanket. "Can I call you back later, where we can discuss this...privately?"

"He's there isn't he?"

"Yes..."

"Okay. Call me as soon as you can." Bonnie hung up and I tossed my phone down.

"Can you be any more obnoxious?"

"Oh, I'm sure I can." He pulled all the blankets off and I squealed as I attempted to cover my legs. "Oh no you don't..." He pulled me down on the bed and pulled my legs apart easily, crawling up between them until his head was level with mine. "I'm not letting you go back to sleep."

"Why not? I like sleeping...Lets me dream about things other than your face." Klaus looked shocked and I cackled. "Sorry...I just can't control what I dream about."

"You'd better

start." He grabbed my wrists and held them down. "What do you mean by 'things other than your face?' Are you dreaming about someone else's face?"

"No." Klaus grinned and ran his nose along my jaw and down my neck, and nipped lightly at it. I yelped. "No! I'm not dreaming about anyone else!"

"You _sure?_ I'd be awfully angry if you were..." He nipped at my neck again, harder, hard enough to break the skin. I felt my blood begin to drip, and he licked it up immediately. "I'm feeling rather lascivious this morning...We've only got a short time until my witches arrive, so I suggest we make this quick."

"Wait, what?" I wrenched my head away from his and asked "What witches?"

He sighed and released my wrists and I sat up. He lay down in the spot I'd just vacated and said "I've got some of my witches arriving this morning, since you said you wanted to cure Amanda..."

"But...I didn't think you were serious about letting me do it...Really?" Klaus nodded and I jumped on top of him, hugging him viciously. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You are welcome, my love. Now, as I was saying..." He grabbed my bottom and rolled us over. "We have only a short time before my witches arrive."

"So let's get to it, then." I felt his arousal against my belly and grinned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dani, this is Carla, Robert, and Lynne. They're here to watch over you as you work, and for whatever else you may need." I raised an eyebrow at Klaus. He was being unusually polite. "Whenever you're ready, I'll have Amanda come downstairs." He left me in the den with his three witches and went upstairs.

I stared at them, not quite knowing what to say. So I asked "What has Klaus told you about why you're here?"

The male, Robert, spoke up. "That we are to observe and intervene if necessary while you cure a vampire." He stiffened a bit and continued. "We are loyal to Klaus and so we will do this, though I am not entirely confident that a vampire can be cured."

I nodded slowly. "That is your right to feel that way. But I can assure you that you will feel differently after this ordeal is over. Has he told you about me?"

Robert shook his head. "We already knew of you. You would be hard pressed to find a supernatural creature that has not heard of the half-breed Dani Taylor and the chaos you have brought."

"Chaos? What chaos?" Robert looked uncomfortable. "Were you compelled not to say anything?"

"No. I have vervain with me, and cannot be compelled."

"Then spit it out, before I do compel you."

He took a deep breath. "There are some that would consider using you against their enemies, and against the humans. If you truly can cure a vampire, their lust for you will only grow stronger. I have heard only talk of this, but have seen no action as of yet. That does not mean there is not danger."

"I realize...But I contend that I am perfectly safe where I am. Aside from my own abilities, your masted would slaughter anyone that dares to try to take me. Now...all three of you are proficient in healing?" They nodded. "That's all I need to hear."

I went to the doorway and saw Kai standing sentinel by the bottom of the stairs. His face showed both his worry and excitement.

"Kai, please tell Klaus we are ready." He nodded and went up the stairs. I stood by the leather couch and waited patiently.

Klaus entered the room first followed by Amanda and Kai, who were holding hands. Kai kissed her cheek and I held in my smile as he went to stand with the other witches. Klaus came to my side, and Amanda stood before me.

"You understand what you're consenting to?" She nodded. "You understand that you won't be able to stop, and may not be able to turn back once you are human?" Another nod, and I took a deep breath. This was the hard one. "You understand that this is not definite, that it has been tried only once, and that there is not a guarantee you will survive?"

Amanda turned and looked to Kai, who smiled wide for her. The smile did not touch his eyes. She turned back to face me and said "I'm willing to take the risk."

"Then sit." She sat. I heard a collective stoppage of breath as I put my own wrist to my mouth and bit into the vein there. When I held it to Amanda, she looked confused, and so I said "You need to have my blood in your system in order for this to work."

Her confusion vanished and, perhaps a bit too greedily, sucked at the wound until the skin healed itself. Her pupils were wide and alive as she licked a few drips from her lips, and I knew the taste of my blood had ensnared her as easily as it did Klaus.

I put my hands on either side of her face and said "This is probably going to hurt. A lot."

I drew strength from my vampire half as I began the process, willing myself not to pass out again. Klaus had said my evil side was finally gone, but I wanted to be sure. Also, if curing people meant I would pass out for an entire day afterwards, it was going to be really bothersome.

I concentrated solely on Amanda now. I noticed immediately she felt different from Alaric. His ailment was death, and most of my effort went to healing his decomposed body, and then reattaching his soul to it. Amanda's soul and body were intact, but it felt as if they were both sick. The blackness of vampirism ran through them both, and I focused on ridding the blackness from her body.

I felt her stiffen as my blood magic began doing its work. Her eyes filmed over that vampire red, but the color drained back out of them. She opened her mouth in a silent scream, and I could see her fangs retreating back into her gums. The blackness was fading, all her vampire traits receding.

The last part to go was her immortality. Her silent mouth let out a scream as I tore this from her, and it was replaced with the temporary centre that was mortality. I felt myself grow unsteady, and as soon as I wrenched my hands from Amanda's face, I fell to the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Klaus' PointOfView)**

Amanda screamed and Dani fell to the floor, her head smacking loudly against the hardwood and carpet. I sped to her side and lifted her into my arms, as Kai did with Amanda.

"Dani?" I could feel her heart beating and her lungs drawing in air, but she did not respond. "Dani!"

"Niklaus!" My head shot up to Kai, who had called my name. Amanda was in his arms, heart beating strong. I could smell her human blood in her veins. "It worked!"

"Of course it worked, it has before." I returned my attention to Dani. I shook her several times but she still did not wake. "Robert!"

The leader of my three witches stepped forward and knelt on the floor beside me. He pressed a hand to Dani's face and spoke a long, intricate spell.

When finished, he said "I feel nothing wrong with her. She has simply exhausted her magic. Some rest should have it back in no time."

At that, I stood with Dani in my arms and carried her up to our bedroom. My witches followed, standing in the doorway as I pulled the covers over her legs. I stood and turned to face them. "Why is her magic exhausted?"

"I do not know. She is not like us. But when a witch is out of practice or just discovering their powers, or tries to do a spell beyond her limits, there are some physical side effects. Since you said she has brought a spirit back to life, my guess would be that this is simply because she is just starting to use her abilities. But that is all it is: a guess."

It made sense. Even if Amanda was not fully dead as Alaric was, it was only Dani's second time performing the curing ritual. It would take time to get used to the magic.

"If you have no other information, leave us." The two females, Carla and Lynne, retreated. Robert stayed in place. "Yes?"

"You asked me to look into your former protégé, Marcel, and his activities here in New Orleans. I spoke to a witch under his command."

"And?"

"And he has control over the entire city. Has a massive spell in place to detect any magic performed within his domain. He uses his witches to keep control over the vampires in town as well."

"That is not surprising...He did learn from me."

Robert nodded. "I was also informed that there is a price out on your and Dani's heads. Someone told him of her lineage and abilities after your meeting, and he now desires to control her power for his own purposes. He has warned his minions not to approach you, but to inform him directly of your whereabouts, should you be seen. I think he intends to capture you himself, and possibly use your power as well."

"My former apprentice would have a tough time doing so. I will rip him limb from limb and leave him to die of my bite if he even shows his face near my Dani again..." I took a deep breath, and released. "Go, inform the others of the situation, and tell them to be prepared for the possibility of battle. Send Kai and Amanda for supples. We will need them when Dani awakens."

Robert nodded and left. I cojnted myself somewhat lucky that I had a former military officer for a witch. He knew how to follow orders and never to question my command. If only all my followers were so complacent.

I went back to Dani, sitting on the bed beside her and taking her hand in mine. I tried again to wake her, but to no avail. If it was going to be this way every time she cured someone, I was not sure I wanted her to do it anymore. Yes, she could potentially be a powerful weapon...but I did not want to lose the woman I love.

I looked to the engagement ring on the bedside table. She had not put it back on in the days since we fought over her wanting to become human.

I always knew there was a possibility, from the moment we discovered her vampiric link to my brother Elijah, that she would want to turn herself human. That she might want a human life, one with friends and a family and an eventual death. I often prayed silently that she would want to stay with me, rule by my side, and be immortal forever.

I stroked her long silver hair, imagining it being blonde or brown if she were to turn fully human. I imagined her skin being not as pale, having a healthy pink glow from the blood rushing beneath it. I imagined her dark blue eyes would lighten to a more natural shade, like that of the sky or sea.

Those were some of the very reasons I did not want her to cure herself. I loved her silver hair and the way it shined in the light. I loved her perfect skin and the way it healed after we ravaged each other. I loved her dark eyes, their color reminding me of the most perfect sapphires. I liked her this way. She may have only seen herself as stuck between two infinites, human and vampire, but I saw her as something more. As _someone_ worthy of the unique power she held.

I just did not know how to express all of this to Dani herself. Perhaps if I could find a way, make her see why I love her the way she is and not just for her power, then she would not be so angry with me...

I did not know how to do that just yet. So I simply took the ring and placed it back on her finger for her to find when she awoke. I stood and left the bedroom, shutting the door securely before leaving the house.

If Marcel wanted to see me, then see me he would. He wanted to put my Dani in harm's way, to use her as nothing more than a threat against me and anyone else who opposed him, and that was something I could not allow. I had put her through enough, and would not let someone else put her through more of the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(Third Person PointOfView)**

_Some time after Klaus left, when she was sure Robert and Carla were not watching her, Lynne crept up the stairs to the second floor. She went to the room where she knew Dani was resting and opened the door just far enough to slip inside._

_She went to the bed and watched Dani sleep. She held a great disgust for the creature lying before her. Dani was an abomination. There had never been a crossing between vampires and humans before because there was not supposed to be, because it was against the laws of nature. Yet, here Dani lay._

_What Dani did was unnatural too. Curing a vampire, supposedly bringing someone back from the dead...Those things shouldn't be allowed to happen. It would only cause strife between those that wish to be human and those that wished to use Dani as a weapon against their enemies. There was evidence enough of __**that**__ in the way Klaus was handling things with Dani._

_Lynne touched her hand to Dani's forehead, prepared to recite a spell that would assure she never awakened again._

"Lynne?" _She paused, listening._ "Lynne!"

_She quickly withdrew her hand from Dani and hurried out of the room. Just as she was closing the door behind her, Robert appeared at the top of the stairs._

"What are you doing up here? And near Dani's room?"

"I was checking if she was awake yet, since nobody else seemed to remember to."

_He looked incredulous._ "Get downstairs. Now." _She stalked past him down the stairs._

_Robert opened the door and looked in on Dani. She was still sleeping silently, not having moved from when Klaus laid her down some time ago. He closed the door quietly, deciding to restrict Lynne from the second floor while Klaus was gone. She had not done anything wrong, but he did not want to take any chances. Besides the fact that Klaus was undoubtedly kill him if anything happened, he understood how important Dani was to Klaus and to vampires everywhere._

_Yes, she could be used as a weapon, but she could also mean the end of all the fighting. The end of all the wars between the vampires and the werewolves and the witches...Just a return to a time when everything was nice and __**normal.**_

_Robert did miss that._


End file.
